DiscoverELA
DiscoverELA is a brainchild of Robert Navarro, PsyD and Rosalinda Norona. The idea was started with an innocent and unintended visit to the Annual Christmas Parade in East Los Angeles in 2008. There the founders observed the joy and enthusiasm of a commuinty where the concept of 'family' and a reverant love for God and religion is valued and celebrated. Two months after its inception, DiscoverELA was the winner of the 2009 Jesuit Conference of the Society of Jesus in the United States and The Catholic Campaign for Immigrantion Reform/Justice for Immigrants Video Competition. The video "Migration: The Right to be Free" is included on this website.
DiscoverELA is a grass roots organization which observes and studies the movement of the Hispanic culture here in California and neighboring border states. The result of these endeavors will be short films and photo eessays on the Hispanic commuinities. We would like to expand this venture to other cultures here in the Southern California area and elsewhere. We are always open to new ideas, particularly those stories that tell of hardship in a system that often devalues diversity and uniqueness. Feel free to contact us at discoverela@yahoo.com. Every email will receive a response, usually within 24 hours.
Dr. Navarro is in the final development of a cultural tolerance program for school age children. The program would be a on-site, hands-on program for grades 1-4, 5-8. Teachers would be supplied follow-up material for further in-class activities. The program goal would be to introduce the value of a "diversified" world...a world which requires stable relationships amoung a massively diverse population. Similar in scope to Dr. Navarro's previous program which addressed the issue of bullies in school and neighborhood, this program would help demystify practices and behaviors by other cultures, thus promoting understanding and acceptence. The Bully program was presented to over 25,000 grade school children in the Orange County area.
There are two other areas of interest. One is the study of pesticide use and safety in the Central Valley of California. Pesticide violations continue to occur and the consequences are observable in the health of those that live and work in those areas. The second area of concern is to promote educational awareness and opportunities to those students who are often overlooked in our poorly managed educational system. Those that show effort and promise in the university system should be given a fair chance to attend higher education.
DiscoverELA is a grass roots organization which observes and studies the movement of the Hispanic culture here in California and neighboring border states. The result of these endeavors will be short films and photo eessays on the Hispanic commuinities. We would like to expand this venture to other cultures here in the Southern California area and elsewhere. We are always open to new ideas, particularly those stories that tell of hardship in a system that often devalues diversity and uniqueness. Feel free to contact us at discoverela@yahoo.com. Every email will receive a response, usually within 24 hours.
Dr. Navarro is in the final development of a cultural tolerance program for school age children. The program would be a on-site, hands-on program for grades 1-4, 5-8. Teachers would be supplied follow-up material for further in-class activities. The program goal would be to introduce the value of a "diversified" world...a world which requires stable relationships amoung a massively diverse population. Similar in scope to Dr. Navarro's previous program which addressed the issue of bullies in school and neighborhood, this program would help demystify practices and behaviors by other cultures, thus promoting understanding and acceptence. The Bully program was presented to over 25,000 grade school children in the Orange County area.
There are two other areas of interest. One is the study of pesticide use and safety in the Central Valley of California. Pesticide violations continue to occur and the consequences are observable in the health of those that live and work in those areas. The second area of concern is to promote educational awareness and opportunities to those students who are often overlooked in our poorly managed educational system. Those that show effort and promise in the university system should be given a fair chance to attend higher education.
