A Summer of Healing

Bailey’s Cafe is a space of community healing and belonging -- a secular church, a home, a kitchen table. Bailey’s welcomes all with an open heart, compassion and love, generating a culture of belongingness, non-judgment, acceptance, community, and space to be your full self. This is Bailey’s unique value.

This year will be our 7th year of offering our beloved, free arts-based rites of passage summer program to youth ages 9 to 21. We are moving ahead with plans for the summer in this moment of uncertainty. The City, however, has already made the decision to suspend the Summer Youth Employment Program this year due to the need to cut budgets at DYCD; we usually have about 12 young people coming to us to work as Creatives/Mentors through SYEP and also offer five of our regular participants the same position, who are at least 14 years old and have been with us for a year, an opportunity to earn a stipend of $500.  We have already had ten of our young people contact us about being a Creative/Mentee.  We expect there will be more and have started this campaign to raise the funds necessary to support twenty young people.

Last year our themes were authenticity in the age of social media, mental health and kindness.  We plan to continue to use similar themes but focusing on healing and mental health as we know the panic and fear generated by the pandemic is taking a toll on our communiites mental health.  Even if we are unable to meet in person or have to make adjustments to what that looks like we will employ our cadre of young people, renaming them "Light Workers" to help us access the needs of the community and how Bailey's can best situate itself as a hub and a resource healing, empowerment and the creation of more equitable society.

The program begins July 6th and ends Friday, August 14th with a culminating performance co-created by our young people and our teaching artists. 

During June, we plan to meet with our "Light Workers" and begin training but first offering them support and tools for their own healing. At this time, assuming the City will have clarified the guidelines for summer programming, we will plan and co-create the program in a collaborative process with our professional teaching artists and the young people.

Once the program begins, participants meet Monday through Thursday from 10 to 4.  Some of this time, if we have younger children, they will be mentoring and co-creating, meeting with other community organizations and individuals doing work in the areas of mental health, healing and restarting the community 

Our summer program is a powerful example of how the arts support our healthphysically,  mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  The intergenerational connections that are a fundamental part of Bailey's mission also contribute to the betterment of our communities and maintain the legacy of wisdom and experience as well as the inter-generational exchange of knowledge and skills.  We know at this time, more than ever, we need our social networks as the loss/limiting of human contact, although necessary, has taken a toll.  Bailey's is a welcoming, nonjudgmental space and will play an important role in the renewal and resurgence of the community.