• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • community
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • EAT DRINK
  • GAYRVA
  • POLITICS
  • PHOTO
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

Getting High And Getting Freaky With Toward Space

Alicen Hackney | December 7, 2020

Topics: CARITAS, I Won't Do Crack (Without Heroin), richmond bands, richmond music, Toward Space

The Richmond garage-rock trio wanted to blow off some steam with the video for their latest single. And sure enough, the clip for Toward Space’s “I Won’t Do Crack (Without Heroin)” gets downright steamy.

Nothing can slow down the creative and kinky minds of the members of Toward Space, Richmond’s resident garage-punk threesome. As 2020 comes to a close, Toward Space is shaking up the chaos of the year with an out-of-the-box, but not out of the stall, music video for their song “I Won’t Do Crack (Without Heroin),” the title of which is inspired by the 2003 movie Party Monster. 

The song itself, which came out in August of this year, is catchy and an instant classic for the band as it is. However, with the addition of some glory hole fun, classic city porch hangs, and sexy leather and fishnet, the song comes to life in a whole new way. 

Not unlike the band’s past videos, like their 2019 release “Abella,” the cast is made up of loyal friends and local Richmonders. Gathering so many people for this occasion didn’t come without its challenges in the era of isolation. 

“I’m lucky I have a bunch of friends who were willing to all get COVID tests and follow protocol to be in the video. We keep joking this was our ‘last hurrah,’ since numbers have surged,” said Seyla Hossaini, the band’s bassist and vocalist. “Expect some sullen silent films from me this winter, with a much smaller cast.”

Hossaini has played a major role in the creation and production for most, if not all, of Toward Space’s videos. She’s no stranger to the world of music video directing, having spent time directing videos for singers and rappers at Sound of Music Studios. Be it directing, choreographing, editing, or casting, she does it all with a flair for the freaky.

“I just happen to have a dirty mind,” said Hossaini. “I can’t help it, it’s always been like this.”

For this video in particular, she directed and tried her hand at choreographing. With some new dance experimentation, Hossaini grew her passion for conceptualizing music videos, and is already looking forward to future projects to keep stretching her abilities and gaining new ones. 

“For me personally, if I didn’t push myself to keep creating in the midst of all this I would probably end up in bed crying every day,” said Hossaini. “I believe the same goes for my bandmates. Having to cancel multiple tours at the beginning of lockdown had us moping around for a bit back in March, but I think now we’ve accepted the situation to a degree. There are ways to be safe and still make art.” 

In pursuit of a release of creativity in a locked-up setting, Toward Space created the music video for “I Won’t Do Crack (Without Heroin)” both for themselves and for the community they call home. Appropriately, all of the song’s proceeds on their Bandcamp will be donated to the CARITAS center for the month of December. 

The CARITAS center, or Congregations Around Richmond To Assure Shelter, is a well known Richmond non-profit that focuses on caring for and housing those struggling with homelessness and drug addiction. For over 30 years, CARITAS has been meeting the needs of the community in big ways, and they’re expanding to reach even more of those who could use a caring hand. For Hossaini, choosing to donate the song’s proceeds to this organization was an act of compassion that came naturally.

“Ever since my cousin, who I was extremely close with, passed from an overdose, I’ve wanted to raise money for organizations that help folks struggling with addiction,” said Hossaini. “I’ve raised money for Daily Planet in the past, and I chose CARITAS this time because they opened a new wing for women recently.”

At the intersection of passion and compassion, Toward Space has an eye for community care, and aims to uplift the masses as they take hold of the reins and uplift themselves. With the heavy-hitting political and polarized year we’ve all been having, Hossaini used this opportunity to aim listeners in the direction of weight-lifting fun.

“I want viewers to enjoy the video and have fun with it,” said Hossaini, who has been riding the tumultuous merry-go-round of American politics with the rest of us and needed the relief just as much as any of us. “I’ve debated myself on politics in my own head to the point of migraines, nausea, losing sleep. The process of making this video was a huge release for me. I needed to make a mindless, non-politicized video.”

Looking forward, while the tumult of the year continues, Toward Space isn’t looking to quiet down anytime soon. Sure live shows may be a while off, but Hossaini has a few tricks up her sleeve to develop the Richmond music scene and keep the musical freak flags flying. 

Watch the music video for “I Won’t Do Crack (Without Heroin)” below:

To download and donate to CARITAS, go to Toward Space’s Bandcamp (towardspace.bandcamp.com) this month, or stream it on Spotify and Apple Music.

All Photos via Toward Space

Richmond’s Homeless Groups Speak on Monroe Park, Its Future, and Their Work

George Copeland, Jr. | October 2, 2018

Topics: CARITAS, Food Not Bombs, Homeless, Homeless Groups, Monroe Park, richmond, Richmond city council, Richmond police department

Monroe Park saw its official reopening ceremony last Thursday following months of renovation. The fairly rainy event was attended by Mayor Levar Stoney and representatives from Virginia Commonwealth University, the Monroe Park Conservancy, Richmond City Council, along with a crowd of dozens — and one lone critic of the entire affair.

“Virginia Beach built a $29 million facility to help house homeless people. The city here does nothing,” said Thomas Alleman, chief facilitator of the Richmond chapter of the international Food Not Bombs collective.

Carrying a protest banner soaked from the rainwater that poured during the ceremony’s speeches and ribbon-cutting, Alleman was very critical of the event, the park redesign, its architects, and how it spoke, in his view, to the continuous changes Richmond has seen over the years.

It’s changing all right — but for what and for who?

Nearly two years after work on the park closed off a well-known hub for Richmond’s homeless and the organizations that aim to aid them, the way homeless outreach has changed in the city and Virginia is a question with a wide gulf of responses for groups that share a common cause and focus on this issue.

For Michael Rogers, a former member of CARITAS and Community Engagement Manager for Homeward, the current state of homeless outreach is a very positive one. Aided by staff tasked to connect with, check in on, inform and build relationships with the homeless, the group’s efforts have continued with little obstacles to hinder them.

This is important for the work they do, especially the annual Point-In-Time count, as Homeward’s ability to document the homeless people of the Commonwealth is critical to ensuring federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As such, the work the group does involves not just networking with similar organizations throughout Virginia, but broad cooperation with local officials and law enforcement agencies to ensure proper support for all of Virginia’s homeless people.

“It’s grown a lot, but we’re getting participation across sectors and across organizations,” Rogers said of Homeward’s recent efforts.

Alleman has a more mixed take, owing in part to the disruption in service and outreach Food Not Bombs experienced following the park’s closing. As a result, after 25 years in the city, the group was faced with the hard work of reestablishing their organizing connections with a homeless population left scattered. Eventually, Food Not Bombs set up in Jackson Ward’s Abner Clay Park, with the help of Richmond’s homeless, though with a noticeable decrease in numbers.

This skeptical view of the situation extends to the renewed presence of law enforcement in the area, including the Richmond and VCU police officers stationed at the Checkers House near the park’s center, in addition to the new camera system. Ultimately, Alleman disputes the notion that Monroe Park is for Richmond’s city residents.

“They put a police station where this gazebo and bathrooms used to be. What does that really say? Instead of helping us and working with us to help these people, they do things like this, I think, to kind of dissuade us,” Alleman said.

In a statement, RPD 4th Precinct Officer Lt. James Roberts explained that the Richmond Police Department will be covering primary patrolling responsibilities in the park, with VCU’s police officers serving as support.

“The objective of the Richmond Police Department is to implement public safety strategies that will allow all park patrons to lawfully utilize the park,” Roberts said. “Enforcement action will be taken when appropriate, however, our overall strategy is to engage the community and our partner organizations in non-enforcement efforts to ensure all lawful activity is protected.”

“Homeless outreach groups will continue to be welcome in Monroe Park as they are in other city parks, as long as their activities are lawful.”

In contrast to Food Not Bombs’ struggles, Homeward was seemingly well prepared when news of Monroe Park’s closing reached them. Though Rogers was still part of CARITAS at the time, the usage of a coordinated communication plans for a network of case managers for emergency shelters, outreach workers, and law enforcement on alternative locations for shelter and aid helped some homeless outreach groups immensely in the time before and during Monroe Park’s closure.

This continued good fortune extends to Homeward’s interactions with HUD. In contrast to general operations and policy initiatives within the Trump administration and even from top HUD officials, Homeward’s work with the staff members of its homeless division is as professional as ever, if not better, according to Rogers. With applications for a $5.4 million federal grant and additional funds for homeless domestic violence survivors still pending, that relationship will be key for how Homeward operates in the future.

“I can’t speak for all of HUD, but in homeless services, it’s remained consistent, and we’ve even seen an increase in support,” Rogers said.

That support seems especially vital in a fall season that’s seen extreme and rare weather occurrences touch down in Richmond, including tornadoes generated in Hurricane Florence’s wake that claimed the lives of two people in Virginia.

Homeward opted to tackle the problem with a system of public communication, online resources and overtime work to bring the public into greater connection with both the city’s homeless and the kind of outreach work necessary when a potential hurricane could reach its streets.

Recalling the large amount of effort taken to ensure the safety of Richmond’s homeless people, Rogers said, “It was just kind of working diligently to make sure that everyone, including the general public, knew what resources were available; so that anyone who was sleeping outdoors, we could connect with them and offer those kind of services.”

On this topic, Alleman strikes a similar, more condensed tone: “Even if there was a tornado, we would still be here. We are dedicated.”

Judging by Alleman’s and Rogers’s statements, both organizations are still undecided on how they’ll utilize Monroe Park as part of their efforts, now that fences have come down.

Rogers and Homeward remain observant, waiting to get the full scope of the new rules and guidelines for the park, which includes a 6 o’clock closing time and new rules for lawn reservations and charitable food distribution. For now, they’re focused on connecting and expanding the capacity to aid.

“We will support and push people towards creating and expanding indoor meal programs, particularly for people who are sleeping outdoors,” Rogers said.

And for Food Not Bombs, who are deep in discussion among themselves and other groups? “We still want our presence in this park,” Alleman said. “It’s not like Food Not Bombs is just this bunch of punk kids making food. It’s the idea that we have to show people that there are other people in this city that need help.”

Despite his misgivings about the park, Alleman remains open to the possibility of greater homeless aid coming from Richmond officials.

“I do hope that we can work out something with the city to get people into some sort of shelters,” Alleman said.

While the gap in Alleman’s and Rogers’s outlook on Monroe Park is clear, equally clear is that both men — and the groups they work with — remain steadfast in their commitment to helping Richmond’s homeless.

Photos by George Copeland Jr.

CARITAS to open recovery program for women

Carolanne Wilson | June 16, 2017

Topics: addiction, CARITAS, recovery program, women's shelter

RICHMOND – CARITAS, a nonprofit that strives to end homelessness, plans to start a long-term recovery program for women in Richmond after the success of its program for men, The Healing Place. The women’s facility is tentatively scheduled to open in late 2017 or early 2018.

In the midst of what federal and state officials call an opioid epidemic, the new program will allow CARITAS to offer residential treatment for addiction to Richmond-area women for the first time.

Since 2005, The Healing Place for men – a 214-bed residential recovery facility in Southside Richmond – has a success rate of 70 percent of graduates staying sober for more than one year and becoming taxpaying citizens, according to CARITAS.

“In the past, we’ve had to send women to Louisville or Raleigh from Richmond for help. And when they got on their feet, they contributed to those communities and economies,” says CARITAS onsite volunteer coordinator Todd Weatherless. “Now they will be able to get that help here locally and contribute to the communities and local economy they come from.”

The Healing Place is free to Richmond-area residents. For people from out the area, the cost remains minimal especially in comparison with private rehabilitation facilities and detox centers.

Funded through taxes and contributions, a bed at The Healing Place costs $7,200 per year, while the alternative for many clients – imprisonment – can cost taxpayers up to $45,000 a year. A short-term private treatment program can cost $50,000.

“One of the benefits we will see by having a program locally is that we will be returning functional members of society back into the Richmond community,” says Weatherless, himself an alumnus of the Healing Place.

Those who have graduated from the program and those who work there believes the structure of the program, a self-paced, peer-led recovery model, goes beyond just “sobering up.” The facility strives to give dignity back to those who have fallen most vulnerable to addiction.

“They try to stretch and pull you … it’s behavioral modification,” says James, a 2014 graduate of The Healing Place. (Because he is in recovery, CNS is using only James’ first name.) “It’s just not telling you, ‘Don’t drink, don’t get high.’ It’s saying, ‘How do we change your behavior to a point where you’re able to be a productive member of society?’”

James says the Healing Place has taught him more than just how to stay sober, especially with help from continuation programs like CARITAS Works Workforce Development. He benefited from courses ranging from using computers to practicing compassion during his time there.

“At the Healing Place, every single rule, every single time they have you get up, everything is thought out, and there is a reason behind it – and that’s why it is so successful,” James said.

He credits a lot of his achievements to his time in the facility. He has since gone on to work in Richmond-area real estate.

The Healing Place model exists in other cities. Louisville, Kentucky, for example, has a facility for men and a separate facility for women – just as CARITAS hopes to create in Richmond.

Louisville has found that the programs have been equally successful for both men and women. The structure is the same, but women are given, over time, the option to interact with their children at the facility.

Heather Gibson, who oversees all The Healing Place programs in Kentucky, stresses that healthy relationships and confidence are issues that may need more attention for women clients than male ones. As a result, the process for women may take a little longer.

“Men and women are different in a certain way, and they need recovery in a little bit of a different way,” Gibson says. “When women enter our type of recovery process, they’ve probably been out a little bit longer than men, a little more beat up than men, and have a lot of trauma in their background that can’t be ignored.”

The general structure of The Healing Place is a five-phase program, where certain privileges are granted further along each phase. Each phase is self-paced, but clients are held accountable by their peers.

CARITAS is waiting for its Southside building to qualify for both historic and new market tax credits to start renovations. With architectural plans completed, the new CARITAS center will house not only the women’s program but also a furniture bank, a 47-unit sober living complex, a community laundromat and other projects.

Story via VCU Capital News Service

sidebar

sidebar-alt

Copyright © 2021 · RVA Magazine on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close

    Event Details

    Please fill out the form below to suggest an event to us. We will get back to you with further information.


    OR Free Event

    CONTACT: [email protected]