There is a Love Movement Coming to
North Adelanto
We implement various programs to create community-wide revitalization and change social norms. Most of which are centered around the Love Movement. The Love Movement is a three-month, three-phase program designed to organize a neighborhood that is a results-driven, systems approach designed to change community norms, conditions, and policies that impact health and safety. We start by identifying the most disadvantaged or vulnerable communities in the High Desert.
Phase One/ Month One
Phase one of the Love Movement is preparation or data collection. During the first month, we collect data and recruit partners. We place marketing all over the neighborhood that says a Love Movement is coming to their city, building intrigue and anticipation. As we go door to door, we give out My Neighbor 5”x7” refrigerator magnets with places to write your neighbors on the front, back, and either side contact information. We promote an art contest that asks artists what does love mean to them or what do they love about their community? We rent a house in the community that serves as our base of operations but will later become the community house. The Community house will be a central meeting place and safe haven. Donations collected will be stored there for residents to use as they please. Our goal is to make it a WIC center, Cooling Center, Warming Center, resource center, Emergency gathering place, and anything the community decides they need it to be. Once a month, we will have a lawyer come to offer legal advice and Medical personnel to do free evaluations: a Dentist, Psychologist, and Tutor.
Phase Two/ Month Two
The second month is the Love Movement itself. It is an all-out Marketing assault on the neighborhood. During prime times, we have volunteers passing out R.A.K. Cards (Random Acts of Kindness cards) at local grocery stores, gas stations, and shopping centers. These cards say you are a recipient of a Random Act of Kindness. Now it is your chance to do the same. Do something kind for someone else and pass along this card. Pay it Forward. We promote the Love Challenge on the internet, exclusively to this neighborhood, with targeted ads. The Love Challenge asks that you give 3 hours of your time to helping someone else with no benefit for yourself or donate $30 to I Am Love. Some people have more time than they have money, while others may have more money than they have time, but everyone can participate. We have weekly Common Unity Marches on different streets in the area. The Common Unity March is a parade led by a local car or motorcycle club followed by volunteers who pass out R.A.K. cards and bags of groceries. Followed by volunteers with trash cans in tow cleaning up the street as we march. We host weekly Love Conventions, where we share the data we gathered during Phase One and explain our goals for that community. We present the I Am Love culture of using the ILY sign when saying hello or goodbye and calling people Loved ones instead of Nigga, Bro, or any of the other slang commonly used to address each other. Art entries collected during the art contest in Phase One are printed on recyclable corrugated plastic trash cans and placed throughout the community. The winner of the Art Contest will have their art piece transformed into a mural that the community will paint. Street-wide banners are placed at every entry/exit point of the community that says, Welcome to or thank you for visiting the neighborhood’s self-identified name. We Are Love. The Love Movement will culminate with a Love Rally. The Love Rally is a concert of sorts. Music played by local artists in the genres most loved by the community. The media is invited. This is when the community lets the world know they are a community of Love. The Community House is dedicated to the community. Recognitions and awards are given. The Life Plan seminar is given, and the Love Movement comes to an end.
Phase Three/ Month Three
In the third and final Phase/Month, we organize the community. We nominate street leads that report to the community lead. The goal of I Am Love is for residents to become empowered and gain capacities to change upstream issues, thereby improving their quality of life. Procedurally, this is achieved through an intentional and iterative transfer of knowledge between I Am Love coaches, organizational leads, and residents. A Peer Support Worker will call every resident who wants to participate in our Peer Support program weekly. A Peer Support Worker is someone who has been trained on how to listen and provide resources. They are trained in active listening. They do not give advice but provoke thought by asking questions. When offering resources, they will make sure it is a warm hand-off, follow-up, and advocate on their behalf if necessary. Not simply telling them to call 211, for example. These conversations will be set for one hour per week but may last longer if both parties are willing. Life Plan Practical classes will be held every weekend for those interested. The Life Plan practical is one of the most effective tools we use to change social norms. We have used a systematic approach with innovative ideas based on firsthand experience to develop this paradigm-shifting, generation-changing program. The Life Plan is designed to provoke thought and examine your life and experiences. Then rationally come to a conclusion on your own on how to achieve the remunerative goal of living a successful life. The Life Plan proposes questions, describes scenarios, and encourages you to undertake various challenges that may shake the foundations of your soul and question cultural and religious philosophies that you have held as truth your entire life. Our goal is that during the journey of creating your Life Plan, you will undergo a metamorphosis and paradigm shift that will change how you look at and live the rest of your life.
I Am Love Organizers will help residents identify a community-supported business they will start to support, sustain, and implement revitalization efforts. Some ideas include manufacturing recyclable disposable utensils, Composting, and Community Gardens. I Am Love Earth has a glass, plastic, and aluminum recycling arm in addition to a fruit tree planting program. People willing to participate in the recycling program will be given recycling bins. A check for 20% of the monies collected will be given to them on a monthly basis. 20% will go to I Am Love. The other 60% will go toward the Community House and other neighborhood projects.
After the Love Movement
Other I Am Love staple programs that will be implemented after the conclusion of phase 3 include our Tuition Free Education Program. We find local professionals willing to teach their trade. Those who graduate from the education program are asked to give 10% of their 1st year’s earnings to pay for the next class to be tuition free.
We work with local employers to give preference in hiring people who have completed the Life Plan Practical.
We send Extraordinary people awards to anyone nominated. Everyone nominated is given two tickets to the I Am Love Annual Extraordinary People Awards and is considered to win Extraordinary Person of the Year. With this award comes gifts and prize money.
We work with residents to start their businesses. We help them set up their corporation, develop their business plan, teach them how to utilize their business credit, and take advantage of tax breaks. In many cases, we will give grants to assist with start-up costs.
Currently in development is I Am Love Media. Under this branch is I Am Love Good News, an online news station that only reports the positive things going on in the World, Nation, State, County, and High Desert. After the establishment of Good News will be the pilot development of the Random Acts of Kindness Television show. It will depict reenactments and interviews of extraordinary random acts of kindness from around the world.
