"We use PFP as a way to build a positive culture at HOLA, one that’s based on empathy and compassion, cooperation and building leadership skills for both the Youth Facilitators and for the younger students who are practicing, listening, cooperating, and understanding."
Loren Rubin has spent the last fourteen years working with Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA), a not-for-profit organization that helps vulnerable youth. For the last three years, he’s been running a PFP program with HOLA youth and was recently awarded our Michael J. Terrien Service Award. We have since interviewed Loren about his life and work as a Certified Trainer with PFP. PFP: Tell me about the relationship between PFP and HOLA. LR: Well, we've got a group of about 12 youth facilitators that work regularly. The way that we have it structured is that the facilitators have a training session every Monday: they learn new games, tricks, and tips, plan for upcoming sessions, and so on. That group of 12 is then divided up into three different teams and those teams lead play sessions with our younger students at the center. So, each of the Youth Facilitators is with us twice a week, on Monday and one other day - Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. PFP: Great! Who are your Youth Facilitators (YFs)? LR: The YFs are a mix of high school students, grades 9 - 12. Some of them are relatively new and just started in January. Others have been doing it since the first time Craig Dobkin and John Guarrine came out to do a training with us three and a half years ago. PFP: How many kids are you and the YFs able to reach? LR: By doing the play sessions three days a week, we can deliver programming to about 250 of our elementary-age students regularly. I also work with a mentor, Jessica Güendoley, who is a former student here and who is now in college studying history. She has been working with us for a year and a half and is helping to guide the YFs. PFP: Lovely - it seems like you have a strong community there. Which brings me to my next question: why is PFP so important in this part of Los Angeles? LR: HOLA serves a community that is overrun by poverty, crime, and feelings of hopelessness. HOLA invests in youth to build stronger communities: we take vulnerable youth and give them a chance to succeed.
The idea is to empower them, to help them feel like their contributions make a difference and that they are a part of their community. Through leadership programs, we help our students develop a shared vision of a positive future, enlisting others to work together towards a common goal. We’re also in a community that has immigrant populations from different parts of the world, primarily Mexico and Central America, but also from other regions, such as Korea, or parts of Africa. These populations are sometimes in conflict: in our program, different cultures can benefit from learning more about each other. So we are creating more harmony between them through group challenges and initiatives: reflection, communication skills, collaboration, consensus building, inclusion, etc. We want to send youth into the world with a greater understanding and appreciation of differences.
PFP: Why did you get into this work? LR: I’m originally from Chicago, and studied theatre, acting, and directing. I came from a tradition in Chicago that emphasizes ensemble, and the training that I got was game-based. It was about building good communication and supporting each other: creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. When I first started working with young people here at HOLA, I drew from those games and those activities because I knew the value of cooperating and having fun. Those skills don’t get much, if any, attention in the regular school day and so I was doing that for several years. But I kept hearing about this idea of experiential education: I had wanted to do this for a while, but hadn’t found a way to build a sustainable and meaningful program plan.
When Craig and John came to visit, they opened up this world of experiential education and educators and told me about the program model of PFP. My eyes lit up, I felt that this was it. PFP: As you mentioned above, you sometimes work directly with Craig Dobkin, PFP co-founder. Can you tell us a bit about Craig’s role in the HOLA activities? LR: Craig has come out a few times over the past few years, and it’s always a special time when he does. The YFs are super excited to have the founder come and share his experience and wisdom. They pick his brain and try and get his knowledge and experience out. He challenges the YFs to adapt games, make new games, and think more critically about what they are doing. Most recently, Craig came for three days: he attended a Monday training session and two of the three weekly play sessions. In this way, he was able to give feedback and advice to the YFs. They were curious about debriefing - leading a reflective conversation with younger students.
Craig worked with them on this. I remember them saying how helpful it was to have him. I remember the comment “He showed us things we know we can do right away and that will help us.”
A big thank you to both Loren and Craig, as well as their teams, for the work they are doing!
