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Honors Student Sees Past Violence, Poverty To Lift Up Her East Palo Alto Community

EAST PALO ALTO (CBS SF) -- Yvonne Hamel was busy painting a fence in East Palo Alto with new bright colors, when our cameras caught her at the "Block the Bells" street fair in East Palo Alto. The fair is named for Bell Street, which had been closed off for the day. Yvonne laughed and joked with the other young people painting away. Later, they planned to grab a bite to eat, or listen to the music or performances.

It's a very different East Palo Alto than the one we often see on the news, and for Yvonne, that is just the point. She wants people to see her hometown as more than a crime rate. "I wanna change the feeling of hopelessness that exists around here," she said. "I see all of it and I love it and I'm here and this is my home."

Community leader Isaiah Phillips met Yvonne through the Youth Action Team and the Youth Art Music Center Project. Yvonne has changed a lot since Phillips first met her. Early on, "it was hard to work with her a lot of times," he admitted. I ask him why. "Anger," he answered. "And a lot of hostility." But he also understood that those emotions came from some very painful losses.

Yvonne's grandmother, who was a pivotal figure in her childhood, had just died. But it was her uncle's murder that cracked her entire foundation. He was shot in front of her home after a party.

"I was used to being poor, that was cool, but I was used to seeing, like, fighting, drug abuse, stuff like that," said Yvonne. "But actually losing people … having to deal with somebody being murdered and it was so close to home … that's what made it hurt the most."

When the worst of the grieving had passed, Yvonne began to realize something had to change. "This is something that my community is plagued by and it's not right and it's hurting people," she said.

Those feelings led her to the non-profits that were advocating for non-violence. "I stated to want to do good in my community," she said. "Instead to adding to its reputation of being a bad place, I wanted to change it to have a reputation of being a better place … It's partly because I lost my uncle and I didn't want that to happen anymore. "

That was when she met Phillips and began to get a different perspective on East Palo Alto. 'There are a lot of community members that really care about where you're from, and they live positive lives full of fulfillment and beauty from East Palo Alto," he said.

Yvonne got involved with the Youth Action Team. She began to learn to work cooperatively with Phillips as her mentor. "So many people had said 'no' and had pushed me to the side, but it took somebody really saying yes, and dealing with me with all of my attitude and all of the anger in me and they didn't give up," she said.

"I would always tell her to focus on the positive," Phillips said. He could see her leadership, and has a gift for showing her how to use it. "You can talk to someone and get into an argument that neither of them learn from, or you can have a real conversation and come to a conclusion that helps both sides," he said. "I've always challenged her to come to that conclusion that helps both sides."

That lesson worked for Yvonne at school, too, where she now has a 3.94 GPA.

During her childhood she'd moved around a lot, and switching schools had affected her behavior at school. Yvonne said she was "constantly suspended for one form of defiance or another." But when her family finally got lucky and moved from a pre-housing shelter to an actual home, she began to settle down at school. She was accepted to Eastside College Prep, a private school in East Palo Alto for low-income students.

Her Spanish teacher, Shaneka Julian, remembered how "rough around the edges" Yvonne was when she entered. Academics were never the issue; she was very bright. Her difficulties had more to do with attitude - she had to learn to respect authority and the structure of the classroom.

Over time, Julian could see a change. "I think her ability to interact with people more positively is one of the things that has changed, said Julian said. "She's a lot less angry… I see a lot more maturity which is good."

Julian also grew up in East Palo Alto and understands the depth of Yvonne's achievements. "Her story is even more amazing because some people start at zero, and then some people start at negative 5, and for her to travel as far as she did, its even more borderline miraculous," said Julian.

Back at the street fair Isaiah introduced Yvonne at the mic, who read a "spoken word" poem she wrote. "15 people in a three-bedroom house," she started out, describing her childhood. Her speech is eloquent and honest. She spoke of the gentrification she sees around her, in this town where the ghetto meets the Silicon Valley.

"I didn't realize how much I loved my 'hood 'til they tried to build it up and tear us down …" She ended with a question.
"It's not looking like the 'hood where I struggled and grown. Who's to save us from this invasion?"

Any "saving" of her community may come from Yvonne and others like her. "When she graduates college, she's going to be a force to be reckoned with," said Phillips.

But Yvonne gives credit where it is due - to the non-profits and to Phillips and other mentors who believed in her potential. "They took me when I was on the wrong path … and they helped me see the wrong in what I'd been doing and they gave me a purpose," she said.

"So now, my larger purpose is to serve my community and to better it."

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