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 Create Now! gives an opportunity for those "forgotten children" that are tucked away in group homes, shelters, detention facilities, special centers and schools throughout the region, under the radar of the general public.
We've built an extensive database of over 1,200 youth facilities throughout Southern California that enables us to match volunteers with high-risk or at-risk kids in their own neighborhood, based on the youths' ages, genders, challenges and other preferences. We train our mentors, help them to customize curriculum and give materials for their workshops.
 Through music, art, writing and performing arts, youth learn to express themselves in a positive manner versus the destructive ways that they have in the past. Creative expression is very therapeutic. We bring thousands of troubled kids to free concerts, plays and other events. These cultural excursions bring relief and joy to the youth, while exposing them to new types of music, theater and art.
We also arrange General Mentoring, like one-on-one "Special Friend" relationships and teaching life skills to small groups of youth. We continually send out targeted notices to our partner agencies about scholarships, jobs, free computers, books and other resources for the kids. We're a conduit for individuals and businesses in the community to give back to the neediest youth.
Creative Arts Heal & Transform Lives
The arts serve as a powerful way for kids who have suffered the trauma of abuse, neglect, homelessness and other challenges to express their innermost feelings. They learn to channel their emotions and begin the healing process.
Founder Jill Gurr felt a need to make a difference in the world. In 1994, she began a Screenwriting Workshop at Optimist Youth Homes, a boys' detention center in Eagle Rock, CA. She spent several months writing a screenplay with a group of these kids who were incarcerated for a variety of crimes. After the workshop, Jill discovered that many of the boys who were illiterate had learned how to read and write through her program, while others wanted to go back to school or enter college. One tough gang leader even had tattoos removed. Seeing the incredible impact of this program, Jill initiated a second Screenwriting Workshop at a coed detention facility and saw the same results.
Our Mentors
We offer mentors the chance to share their knowledge and experience with the kids who need it the most in our community. Many of our mentors feel more fulfilled and happier with their careers, since their lives take on special meaning.
Create Now has five main program areas:
1.
Take Heart - therapeutic visual arts program
2.
Write Now - creative writing and literacy program
3.
Sound Off - interactive music program
4.
Artistic Journeys - cultural excursions to concerts, art exhibits, theaters and more
5.
Show Off - performing arts, including acting, dance, theater and video
Our programs vary from one-day events to longer-term workshops of eight to twelve weeks or several years. All programs are customized to meet the needs of the youth, as well as our volunteers. Mentoring can be with small groups of youth, or one-on-one. We help our mentors to develop curriculum for their particular art, which provides an overview of the workshop with interactive projects.
Our Team
Founder
 Jill Jill Gurr, Founder and Executive Director
Screenwriter and Script Supervisor
For more information check their website: http://www.createnow.org/
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