The Spirit of César Chávez touches high school students

By Andreanna Rivera

Human Values for Transformative Action (HVTA), a local organization, has launched the Community HeARTbeats program in Northwest Ohio. 

The Community HeARTbeat approach calls upon artists and people of goodwill to connect with individuals from marginalized groups and to create visual images that accurately represent the experiences, needs, and suggestions of these individuals/groups. 

This grass-roots initiative uses creative expression as a tool for inspiring, engaging, and involving young Toledoans and youth from surrounding areas in processes of reflection, dialogue, envisioning, team building and collective action. The resulting art work is then used to inform, inspire, and mobilize the community. 

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HVTA has recruited a group of Ambassadors for Justice from the Toledo area to collaborate on holistic community development projects.  In the spirit of the great César Chávez, champion of justice, Dr. Lorna Gonsalves, Executive Director of HVTA, initiated listening and learning sessions with a team of new Libbey Ambassadors for Justice. 

The goal was to identify concerns felt by Latino youth and to use creative expression as a channel for taking these concerns to the public and thereby prompting collective action. It is her hope that young people will be transformed as they work to transform the communities in which they live.

This Community HeARTbeats project is developed by HVTA, in partnership with Adelante Latino Resource Center After School Program from Libbey High School and the Bowling Green State University Art Education Department.