Gandhi Brigade

by GB Alum, Hawa Toure’

Being back to my old stomping grounds has been great. Although it has been about three years since I last worked at Gandhi Brigade, it feels like it was just yesterday. On Monday the 7th I got the opportunity to help Gandhi Brigade continue with tradition by kicking off the 2014 Social Justice Summer (SJS) project. SJS has been a part of Gandhi Brigade’s project offerings even when I was a young person working with a team to create one of my first productions ‘Second Chances’. It is a great feeling to come back to this organization in this way. This summer, seven promoters will have about a month to create three short digital stories that focus on the origin, impact, and future direction of Gandhi Brigade.Through this project the promoters hope to learn more about the history of Gandhi Brigade and the story of its founder Richard Jaeggi. I hope the promoters will see the value of Gandhi Brigade’s work and will be a part of its future as we drive our mission forward and continue to garner the much needed support from our community. Please join us August 29th

as we celebrate Richard’s life mission and showcase the projects we’ve worked on!

All of us miss Richard Jaeggi for our individual reasons. However, his collective impact on those he has left behind is a result of a singular motivation that is so pure, it has created a deep hole that will be difficult to fill. That motivation, the thing that spurred Richard to do so much good in our community for so many, has been love. Richard loved each of us and we all felt it. I know that I am not alone in that, and for me, it was apparent from the first time that we met. Richard’s imprint on his family, on Gandhi Brigade, throughout Montgomery County and beyond is a reflection of his genuine love and caring for the well being of those around him. And the best way that I can think to honor him and his legacy is to work hard to love as intensely as he did. Even if I am unable to match the level of Richard’s love, I will most certainly be the better for having tried and, based on his example, so will those around me. Thank you my friend.

Jonathan Williams, Gandhi Brigade Board of Directors and Richard’s friend for 4 years.

If any one has read my sister’s keeper by Jodi Picoult, at one point she says “If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?” The disappearance of one does not invalidate their legacy. If they pass away we still consider them part of us because they have made us who we are.
I met Richard Jaeggi six years ago. It was my first time being involved with Gandhi brigade, and that year we made a Documentary called “Rights of Butterflies” It was my first time being involved in fighting for the common good, and through the process I was able to learn about Richard and his passion for the common good. I describe Richard as zealous, amusing, energetic, fierce, optimistic, and passionate. He was able to shape our community in a way that no one has before. He was able to give youth a voice. He gave the next generation a power that is able to shape their future and ours as well.

Richard has been a sensation to youth and the community. He was a great man. He still is and always will be the Executive Director of Gandhi Brigade. I am sadden by what happened but I am also pleased because I was blessed enough to meet someone as great as Richard. I am pleased because I was able to walk with him in the road to the common good.
—-Binyam, GB youth

The staff and Board of Gandhi Brigade want to express our heartfelt gratitude for the community’s outpouring of kind words, support and loving tributes to our Founder and Executive Director, Richard Jaeggi. We are reeling from this loss as we continue the work of planning our 7th annual Youth Media Festival (YMF) in addition to our other programs. Gandhi Brigade was Richard’s vision and he was able to touch so many lives during the process of creating and developing the organization.

Many have asked how they could support us during this time. Over the years, our organization has had the good fortune to collaborate with other youth-serving organizations, including those who share Gandhi Brigade’s mission to help young people realize their inner and collective power to become the champions of the common good. As we move forward in organizing this year’s Youth Media Festival, we will are grateful for the partnerships we have built and the love and generosity of the community around us.

The Just Us Youth Media Festival is a mere four days away and it was Richard’s hope that the event would be well attended and a source of fun and inspiration for all. At the Festival, we will be celebrating Richard’s, legacy, all the while honoring the great media work of the young people who submitted videos, photographs, and both visual art and performance art projects.

There are many ways that the Gandhi Brigade community can help us achieve Richard’s hopes and honor his life.

1. Come to the Youth Media Festival! The event begins at noon on Saturday, May 31st at the Silver Spring Civic Building. There will be interactive workshops, media exhibitions, and fun for all!

2. Tell everyone you know about YMF! Please share the event on your social media, list serves and email distribution lists and post the flyer on community boards in places that you frequent.

3. Volunteer to help out at YMF on the day of the event and sign up for in-time contributions to share your expertise with Gandhi Brigade as we chart our course forward.

4. Donate to Gandhi Brigade at www.gandhibrigade.org/ so that Richard’s work can continue.

Words cannot convey how much each kind word, Facebook comment and real-live hug has meant to both Richard’s family and to the Gandhi Brigade family.

Valerie J. Graham
Program Director

Youth Media Festival sights. What you can expect to see when meandering through our festival. Lots of passionate youth expression, a sense of community and an overall sense of commitment to the bettering of our society. Join us May 31st!

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It was with a heavy heart that I walked into the Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo on Monday night. Richard had been looking forward to this night for weeks- ever since he learned that Gandhi Brigade had been selected by the Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth to receive the Nancy Dworkin Award for Outstanding Service to Youth. Instead, just a few days before, he would fall ill and have to be hospitalized and I would be be there in his place.

That night, part of me was just so proud of Gandhi Brigade for being selected to receive the Award. The Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth does amazing work and the fact that they selected Gandhi Brigade to receive their Organization Award was a high honor. Just a few hours before I arrived at Glen Echo, when I visited Richard in the hospital, I saw for myself the light in his eyes when he spoke about how much the Award meant to him and the organization. At the same time, I knew how much he wanted to be there. How much he deserved to be there and how much it would have meant to the audience to hear him speak. My own words could never carry the power or convey the love that his would impart talking about the organization he created and spent years building to empower youth to find their own voice.

Any heaviness in my heart lifted once I heard Zach Kahn, a youth member of the Commission describe the work of Gandhi Brigade. Zach’s own voice was so powerful and strong and his words so evocative…describing the great work Gandhi Brigade does in the Community. Work that has touched so many lives and work that needs to continue as we strive for justice for all. Zach told the audience about the hundreds of youth who found a pathway through Gandhi Brigade to lend their voices to striving for equality and he spoke of the change that had come about as a result of their continued efforts. And later when I spoke, all I felt was love. And all I saw in the eyes of the people in the audience was love… for Richard, the man who couldn’t be with them, but whose work touched them so deeply that they all joined together in honoring him.

Vicki Warren
Chair, Gandhi Brigade Board

April Showers Bring Unexpected Awards

In the month of April, the Gandhi Brigade received a shower of recognitions that have been exceeded only by this month’s precipitation. First, thanks to our matron saint, Holly Brooks, I, Richard Jaeggi, was nominated for one of the IMPACT Now momentum awards. I didn’t win, but was a proud loser in good company: Rashad Price, Carlos Peroza, and Laurie Duker were each awarded one of the momentum awards.

Next we learned that last year’s Social Justice Summer documentary, A Hidden Existence, was accepted into the Heritage Film Festival in Bowie MD and received a Promising Filmmaker Award. This was probably the 5th or 6th time I have watched the documentary about teen homelessness and was pleased that it continues to hold my attention. The documentary explores the experience of three young people who are wrestling with growing up under the weight of homelessness. Most of the teen subjects did not become homeless for simple economic reasons but for more complex family reasons that related to their identification as LGBQT.

Our most prestigious April recognition was the 2014 Nancy Dworkin Award for Outstanding Service to Youth, sponsored by the Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth. Holly also nominated us for this one. There will be an awards ceremony on May 12 at 7PM in Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD, 20812. All friends of Gandhi Brigade are welcome.

Nonprofit work can be thankless, especially for those of us whose direct experience is organizational rather than service. The IRS has never thanked me for turning in our Form 990. Staff has yet to thank me for getting paid this week. The board of directors may someday give me a certificate suitable for framing in appreciation for those weekend and evening meetings that turn 40-hour weeks into 60-hour marathons.

No I don’t do this job for the glory or the appreciation. I do it because I know it is critically important. I do it for the appreciable change I can see in the behavior of young people. Mostly I do it as a matter of duty, like a citizen of the present paying off a debt I owe to the future. Sometimes when I become so duty-bound that I am more like a sleep-walker who hardly knows what he does, I look up and see something like: “Gandhi Brigade recognized for Outstanding Service to Youth.”

For a minute I forget about the sleepless nights, or the gnawing anxiety, and even the bone tired weariness, and for a few moments I am awake and feel very connected to the world… and very grateful that Holly Brooks continues to watch over us like a guardian angel.

— Richard Jaeggi

Gandhi Brigade helps young people realize their collective power. Over the last few months my appreciation for the practical power of collective action has grown tremendously.

We are part of the Youth Media Alliance — ten youth serving organizations that have come together to persuade the County to dedicate a larger share of the $27 million cable franchise revenue to serving young people.

I have been encouraging this for years but as a single voice I never seemed to make much progress. But lately we have been meeting with council members and other County decision-makers and I have seen the difference together makes.

First there is collective impact. Gandhi Brigade alone serves around 300 youth in a year, but the Alliance as a whole serves nearly 10,000 young people. This reasonably impresses decision-makers.

Second there is collective wisdom. We all bring something to the table and different intelligence is needed at different times. I am good at seeing new opportunities but it was other members of the alliance who knew how to work the politics. Collective wisdom is like having more tools in your mental tool kit.

Third there is collective sustainability. Collectively we can run the long race. Because I feel accountable to my peers, I lead when it is my time to lead. But because I trust the commitment to the whole, I can step back when other leadership is more appropriate.

Someone once described this last point in the habits of Canadian geese. The lead goose at the point of the V has the full head wind; he works the hardest. The two geese behind her on either side ride the draft of the lead goose and have an easier time. At some point the lead goose needs a break, falls back into the V, and another goose moves up to lead the flock.

Working together makes us more impactful, wise, and sustainable. That’s what I need.

—- Richard Jaeggi

In the center of downtown Silver Spring, City Place Mall has been home to Gandhi Brigade’s program and office space since 2008. Easily accessible by public transportation and pedestrian traffic, the location offered the added benefit of proximity to the hundreds of youth who work, eat, shop and unwind around Veterans Plaza and Ellsworth Drive.

Before my arrival to the organization, Gandhi Brigade’s program space at City Place was the site of media training and production, Tribe, Staff and Board Meetings, workshops, community gatherings, artistic projects and celebrations. Stepping through the door, the spirit of our dedicated youth, staff and volunteers proudly announces itself. Many innovative projects and collaborations have originated at the big orange conference table. Walls are adorned with artwork, acknowledgements and artifacts of media projects celebrating the mission of Gandhi Brigade and the words and vision of Mohandas Gandhi.

With gratitude and nostalgia, we say farewell to our City Place space and begin a new chapter at our new location on the top floor of Marvin Memorial Church at 35 University Boulevard East in Silver Spring. With a spacious and brightly lit interior and a welcoming church community, our new location is right across the street from Montgomery Blair High School, down the road from Northwood High School and accessible by several Ride On and Metro bus routes.

We’re in the process of packing up the City Place space and hitting the road for our new program home, delighted about the prospect of transforming the empty rooms into program areas, editing labs, offices, and meeting spaces. I am excited about growing into my new role as Program Director and eager to support Gandhi Brigade’s important work. We invite you to our Open House at our new home at Marvin Memorial Church on Thursday, February 20, 2014, 3:30 – 5:30 pm. We hope that you’ll join us as we begin to write new stories on the blank pages of Gandhi Brigade’s next chapter.

-Valerie

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RICHARD-
Of the many things I most appreciate about Mona is her magician’s ability to make things appear out of thin air. Whether it was convincing our youth that she was the best candidate over Skype, or pulling off her first Youth Media Festival, time and again she has taken our scarce resources, leavened them with her energy, and produced a very successful activity or event.

I particularly remember one occasion. Although she was still a contractor she had volunteered to go with us to Rockville for the Youth Town Hall Meeting. I asked the young people a few questions and was horrified to discover that no one had prepared them for the event. Without missing a beat Mona skillfully led them in a conversation about where we were going and why. She inquired about their concerns as youth and coached them into transforming these concerns into action-oriented questions for the council members. By the time we arrived in Rockville our delegation was prepped and ready to engage the council members.

AMY-
My favorite Mona moment was definitely the high ropes course at last spring’s staff retreat. I think the way she attacked the course said so much about her: enthusiastic, determined and fearless.

KERI-
In the office, Mona has the ability to maintain a steadfast poker face 90% of the time. You never really know what she is thinking but you know she is deep in thought figuring out the next move or how she can solve a problem. Sometimes you can hear her softly talk to herself. Outside of the office is another story…

My favorite Mona moment has to be our trip to Detroit, taking the back roads through P.A. and introducing her to the magic of the SHEETZ sandwich deli. I admit I had my reservations years ago when I first encountered ordering food at a gas station. Most of these experiences leave you very regretful. Not to make this a commercial for SHEETZ, but they have certainly refined the experience. Anyhow, I found out through car conversations Mona had never had this magical experience and I convinced her to try it at our next opportunity for lunch.

We were using the touch screens to make our orders and Mona was navigating her way through the prompts with analysis of the selections and her decisions. “Cheese sandwich… mmm pretzel bread, Ok that’s good,” she mumbled, “select a cheese… ok… select another cheese… ok… and another cheese! ok…” as she made her selections her voice got more and more excited. Finally she exclaims “FIVE CHEESES!” She was so excited you could see her eyes bubble with excitement like a champagne bottles bursting open. I think she even did a happy food jig in the line as everyone looked to see what the fuss was about.

I laughed along relieved to see beyond the poker face. When we got back in the car Mona floated in heaven as she savored her pretzel bread 5 cheese sandwich, and very soon after took a well deserved nap.

Diana-
My Mona moment is when Mona attended the Executive’s Ball. It was truly a great experience where Mona and I got the advantage to chat with staff from other near by organizations. I learned a lot that night, got to meet great people and almost-not really got close to winning a prize for GB. I had a good night Mona because we were able to interact in a different level and i got to know Mona a little bit more outside the office.