city heights free skool | 31.08.2007 10:18

The City Heights Free Skool is a project that provides free classes, skill-shares and workshops to all regardless of educational backgrounds. There is a computer lab, free library, community garden, bike kitchen and three meeting spaces. Our focus is the geographic area of City Heights and we integrate practical skills and personal experiences into our learning experiences. Our outreach and class schedules are also distributed throughout the mid city area, in both English and Spanish, all are welcome. We recognize that learning has strong ties to privilege based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation and ableness. This is important to recognize and this is why we provide an accessible space where all are welcome to attend or teach a class in a free, open and non-hierarchical environment.

The free skool is a project that addresses issues of exclusion by creating a space where there is the ability to freely express one’s skills and desires. The free skool offers a diverse selection of classes that are free and open to anyone who may wish to attend. There are no skill level requirements. Classes are not taught with a top down method where the teacher is the sole possessor of knowledge. Rather the distinction of teacher and student disappears with skill-share. This method recognizes that even if someone is taking a class to learn a subject they in turn have something to contribute and a knowledge that is valuable to the learning process.

All of the continuing projects at the Free Skool have been implemented through the strong youth led volunteer base. These projects as well as a rotating schedule of classes, skill-shares and workshops have continued to be largely youth led. Our four projects are: the City Heights Info Shop?, SPROUT City Heights, the Free Bike Kitchen and the Computer Lab, which is a collaborative effort.

City Heights Free Skool Website

City Heights Free Skool Benefit
Friday August 31 7-11PM
4246 Wightman (xVanDyke)

The City Heights Info Shop? has a growing and wide selection of books that range from organic gardening to sci-fi to community organizing. We also have a constantly growing selection of zines that we distribute to those who come to the Info Shop?. We have recently started receiving letters from prisoners requesting zines from the Info Shop? and we are struggling to get money for postage to send the information requested to them. We have a working relationship with The Groundwork Books Collective at UCSD, they contact us when they have books to donate and we help to distribute them in the community.

SPROUT City Heights encourages urban food sustainability by providing space and resources for those in the community to share their knowledge. Our organic garden is in the front yard so that it is accessible and visible by all in the community. SPROUT City Heights resists the dominant food culture that promotes a lack of understanding and appreciation for where our food comes from. Our resistance is education about plants and healthy ways that we can sustain ourselves with only a small front yard. The garden has also been used as a learning tool during the Food not Lawns edible bike tours.

The Bike Kitchen is a volunteer run cooperative learning space and a do-it-yourself bike repair shop. The cooperative provides skill-shares, workshops, and mechanical assistance for our bike riding community to support the accessibility of bikes for everyone and bike safety. The shop has tools and parts for repairing, maintaining and building bikes. We emphasize creating a space that supports the empowerment and self-sufficiency of women, queer and transgender people. We also hold workshops at community events such as the Dyke Fest 2007. The Free Bike Kitchen has a very diverse volunteer base and support in the community including several bike shops and the Critical Mass.

The Computer Lab is a co-sponsored project with the San Diego Hacklab. Many people in the community who attend the Free Skool English classes bring their friends and family to the Computer Lab every week to learn how to use the internet and e-mail to stay in touch with families out of the country. People from the community have also been learning new software and how to make fliers for their organizations. This free resource and learning space has provided opportunities for people who have never used a computer, an opportunity to learn new skills and not be excluded from the important advantages computer and internet technologies can offer. The Computer Lab is dedicated to making technology assessable in our communities.