A Local Farm Manager Keeps Busy in the Winter with Reno Food Systems

As the recent wave of pogonip covered many parts of a local five acre farm, the sun set on the shortest day of the year. The fields were all covered with tarps and tires as the farm manager fixed the shade structure for the goats. The farm dog, Lefty, was on guard duty as I waited.  Heavy snow was on its way.

Most food travels nearly 2,000 miles from farm to table, sometimes thousands and thousands more. Much of the food is held under refrigeration, further increasing carbon emissions. Local food rarely travels more than a few miles and does not lose quality, flavor, or nutritional value in that short distance. 

“It’s meant to be a place where a person can come and learn about agriculture,” explained Lyndsey Langsdale, the farm manager of Reno Food Systems. We stood outside of the solar powered refrigerator in the last sunny spot of the day, which was quickly fading. 

Reno Food Systems is an urban farm located on the corner of Mayberry drive and McCarran boulevard. Everything from fruit to fresh vegetables to medicinal and culinary herbs are produced on the lot during the growing season. Everything is grown organically and with sustainability in mind.  

“We have workshops, we have volunteers, we have interns,” said Langsdale. The farm has become a staple in the local food community. “We also do a lot of educational things as well.”

The non-profit began as a vision between a few friends about five years ago and this last season was the fourth successful growing season on the farm. Next year they hope to expand growing into the winter. Currently, somewhere between Reno and Iowa is a large hoop house they ordered and plan to set up during the winter. This will extend the growing season.

Reno Food Systems can be found on the web at renofoodsystems.org

“We have a very special opportunity to be able to steward this land…and make it something that’s a benefit to the community and do it in a way that makes sense to use and matches our values as humans” said Langsdale. This project allows the people behind the organization to work in a way they want to live their lives and exist as community members. “We get to create that from scratch.”

This philosophy has spilled beyond growing food, allowing Reno Food Systems to become more than an urban farm. Notably, they have a food justice program. The highlight of this program is a mobile farmer’s market. “That’s where we take our truck out to different food desert type neighborhoods,” explained Langsdale. A food desert is a place where there is no access to fresh food. These are typically lower-income areas without a grocery store in walkable distance. 

Langsdale explained there is a federal program that provides coupons for low income people to use at farmers markets, however, many times, she said, these coupons go unused as farmer’s markets are not accessible. The mobile food truck combats this by parking in these areas around town and providing fresh and nutritional food.

“We parked our mobile farmer’s market at the Reno Housing Authority’s low income senior residence this year,” explained Langsdale. This allowed the use of state provided coupons for seniors to use at farmers markets. 

Another way Reno Food Systems stands out in the community is by donating food. This year alone, Langsdale estimates they donated about 1,000 pounds of fresh vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity, including the unhoused. They do this by working with many of the community partners and advocates.

As a non-profit the organization must stay funded. They accomplish this through a three-tiered funding model: sales of produce, grants, and memberships. This requires everyone at the farm to wear many hats in order to grow the food and earn the money to stay afloat. There are a few local community grants they receive and these required diligent reporting and management. 

Ways a community member could support the farm is by shopping there during the growing season or purchasing seedlings for a garden. However, they also have a membership program which allows people to create a recurring donation. 

“Finding the funding and staff to maintain grant writing and all of the fun little details in writing grants and reporting on them,” has been the largest challenge Langsdale explained. This year they ran into many overwhelming moments as a team as they are pushing capacity. “I think all of our team members are the type of people who want to do everything.”

With the sun long set and the temperature dipping, Langsdale was optimistic about the farm and the value it is providing the community. “Our goal is to be an asset to the community, but we don’t expect to plop a farm in the middle of a neighborhood and think that everybody is going to understand what we’re doing,” she said. It is a two-way street they are working through together with the community around them.

“Definitely being conscious of how we affect the neighborhood, both the positives and the negatives and really working with our immediate neighbors to be an asset and teach about the realities of growing food,” Langsdale said.

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

JP Harvey with Helping Hands Loving Hearts in Reno

Imagine a storage unit stocked with jackets, boots, hand warmers, and blankets where anyone in need of an item can walk in and take what they need. Free of cost. What if this resource was made available to the most vulnerable, the unhoused.

“Our goal someday is to have something like that,” explained JP Harvey, a Reno resident who has seen the city change from okay to worse in regards to housing insecurity in her lifetime. The mother of three, she wants to make the world a better place, to change it. 

That is why she first started volunteering with the Reno Burrito Project earlier this year. Working with the founder of that group Blaize Akanaab Abuntori and watching other volunteer advocates give their time, energy and ideas, inspired her to do more than just roll burritos.

“I saw all the work that, not only Jessica [Castro] and Bill [Simms], but everybody in the community has been doing more hands on and I decided to take that leap and do more hands on work,” explained Harvey on a chilly morning. She currently is working towards continuing her education at the University of Nevada, Reno and studying sociology in order to better understand what challenges people face to provide better advocacy. “I’ve been in Reno a really long time, I grew up here, and I just want to help as much as I can.”

Currently, Harvey is focusing on building a better bridge between advocates, community members, and officials. “I think it seems everybody is overwhelmed,” she said. She explained that the pandemic and raising rent costs are all compounding to create a situation no one has seen before. “A lot of the people I meet doing outreach, have jobs,” she explained. Yet they are still living on the streets. The main issue, Harvey believes, is that there is not enough affordable housing.

Harvey has joined forces with Simms and Castro and formed a group known as Helping Hands Loving Heart. Castro, formerly unhoused, understands the plight of living on the streets and has been providing food and essential items to anyone wiling to take them for a while now. Simms, who currently lives in low-income housing, understands the stress and concern of being on the brink of living on the streets. Nonetheless, the three have pooled together their time and resources to spend nearly every day of the week conducting outreach and providing resources for anyone in need. Be it food, a blanket, hand warmers, or boots. 

“Honestly, it is probably just being out,” explained Harvey about her niche of advocacy. “I am probably out seven days a week.” When she gets word about someone needing something, she make it a point to procure those items and hand deliver them. Whether it is through donated items, monetary donations, or her own money—Harvey makes sure boots are on cold feet. Especially as we enter the coldest part of the year. 

“Just making sure everyone has what they need,” she said. 

This is not easy work and takes a toll on the mind. But Harvey keeps pushing ahead knowing that her work is impactful and helps ease the strife of living on the streets. Recently, she learned that some she helped were able to get housing and this encouraged her to carry on. The single thing that keeps her moving ahead is allocating a bus pass for someone so they can get to work. “I mean it’s so easy for me to do but it makes such a huge impact.” Harvey is the middle woman, helping convert cash into donations and connecting these donations to those in need. The best way to provide a donation, be it a jacket or tarp or tent or cash, is to reach out to Helping Hands Loving Heart on Facebook. She said one of the three will make it a point to connect. 

“The biggest thing right now for the wintertime is just jackets, and blankets, and tents, and shoes, and boots,” she explained. “If [anyone] reaches out to us we can figure out a place to distribute that to the community. 

“A lot of the unhoused people think they are forgotten about,” Harvey said was the most challenging aspect of her work, along with the sadness and grief. “They just feel like people don’t care about them or there are stigmas attached to people being unhoused.” We talked a lot about this stigma and it is something that pops up on social media a lot. People pointing the finger and looking down upon the unhoused; when in reality, the majority of American citizens are one calamity or paycheck away from joining the ranks of the unhoused. 

One thing Harvey talked about is the fact repeated sweeps of encampments are detrimental to her work. When she saw that an encampment by the university was recently being swept, she was aghast. The day prior she was down there talking with the folks and passed out goods to many of the unhoused. Some of these newly purchased items were just gathered and tossed into a dumpster by city officials and will be hauled out to the landfill.

As winter is with us, Harvey and the others are assembling bags equipped with blankets, socks, undergarments, and food. As she has done in recent weeks, she will spend the next few weeks as 2022 begins, driving around looking for encampments and passing out goods to anyone in need. Harvey will be thinking about how to expand Helping Hands Loving Hearts into a storage unit lined with provisions.

“With the city and county displacing more people…I want to save the world,” she said. “If this is what I can do, to put my little hand in there and do that, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

Tuesday Nights at the Believe Plaza with the New Family Soup Mutual Aid Group

Family Soup Mutual Aid started just over a month ago as a leaderless group to help support the unhoused population and others in need in Reno. As of right now, this group is run entirely on donations from the community and has seen great success since starting.

Nicole Anagapesis, 28, moved to Reno in June of 2019 and immediately felt unhoused individuals weren’t being treated well in our city. With the change in weather, Anagapesis and a group of her friends decided it was time to take matters into their own hands and began searching for winter gear to donate to people weekly.

“I think that the whole concept about mutual aid is that if there is need you can try and help out and do everything you can within your own power to try to remedy horrible situations that people are living under,” Anagapesis said. “Especially right now with the aggressive gentrification of Reno that we’re seeing.”

From lack of affordable housing to a decrease in public space, Family Soup Mutual Aid wants to advocate for people who are often left behind.

“We’re doing what local government won’t. Distributing necessities to the community who needs it the most,” Anagapesis said. “This is a community space and we want to keep it that way.”

Sienna Russell, a member of Family Soup Mutual Aid, helped a woman find clothing that fit her from the dwindling pile that had been brought. People were coming up to Family Soup members in the Believe Plaza for an hour before they ran out of food and winter gear.

So far, their Tuesday night distributions have been increasingly attended. Anagapesis said that Family Soup has hopes to increase people’s awareness of the program.

“I recognize them, they don’t always recognize me,” Anagapesis said. “I think what’s important and what we would like to do is have people recognize us and have them know that, yes you’re a part of this community, we care about you.”

Right now the group is small, but mighty. Family Soup totals six consistent members including Anagapesis. But people are always welcome to help through donations or attending the weekly distributions.  “I think that anybody who can do, whatever they can do, is doing enough. That’s really where our heads were at when we got together and decided that this is a project that we wanted to work on,” Anagapesis said.

These people were sorting through donations looking for clothing for winter. All the present members of Family Soup said that winter gear and blankets have been the most requested items by unsheltered people.

Family Soup will be collecting clothing donations at the Matador on December 22. Your donation gets you $2 off the cover charge for the 6:30 p.m. show.  Distributions take place every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at the Believe Plaza downtown. You can reach out to Family Soup through their Instagram @familysoupmutualaid.

Reporting and Photos by Catherine Schofield for Our Town Reno

From Unhoused to Hemorrhaging Finances and Run Arounds, Students Face Massive Rent Challenges

A Student Quits Due to Lack of Housing

During the Fall semester, on a Monday afternoon as I walked into the class that I was a Teaching Assistant for, one of the students wanted to leave the classroom early. The Professor excused him. The following class the student requested the teacher that he wanted to leave early again. He said: “I am homeless and it is getting cold, I want to enroll into a shelter facility before they close for the day.”

The following week, he emailed, informing us that he was taking the semester off and expressed his hopes to return in the Spring.

Such is the story of one of the many students who are facing the housing affordability crisis full force in Reno. The prices of apartments are continuing to rise and students are struggling to make ends meet.

Many students who are able to find housing facilities are also faced with additional troubles of allotment and move-in date deferment because the builders are unable to hand over the apartments on the stipulated time. This problem doesn't just affect undergraduate students but graduate students through limited state-funded stipends that haven't been increased since 2018.

Not As Expected at Park Place

Katelyn Counts is a pre-nursing student enrolled in her second year of college with the University of Nevada, Reno.

She had signed a lease with Park Place (above on Virginia Street north of campus) in April of 2020 and was told that her move-in date would be on August 15th. However, she could not move into Park Place until October 1st. She says she also did not get to choose her roommates, paid an additional $25 to the existing $825 of her rent and got allotted a totally different apartment than the one she was initially promised. She had to take it. However, the living conditions were not as expected.

After moving in she was living underneath construction as the floor above her was not done yet, according to her. This was not the only ordeal Katelyn had to go through. Before officially moving into the complex  she was constantly receiving uncertainty from the management over the actual move-in dates. She was asked to stay temporarily at the Circus Circus casino and hotel in Downtown Reno. Katelyn was paying the same rent amount ($825/month) to stay there without any amenities on a floor that also hosted strangers and not just students. '“Coming home late at night to a casino hotel was a little scary as a young woman,” she remembers.

In terms of food, they were also promised free “breakfast” which consisted mostly of granola bars.

“I think the biggest part was mostly just like trying to figure out what to do for food. Because there weren't microwaves in any of our rooms,” she said. “We only had a mini fridge and they said like, oh you can use the microwaves downstairs. But then the store wasn't open for a lot. Like it closed at 8:00 PM. So I had to work until like one a.m. and wouldn't be able to get food unless it was in my fridge. So I had Starbucks food for most of the time, which I worked at Starbucks and at the time they were doing a free meal every day.”

Katelyn also adds that she was lucky enough to have her family just hours away from Reno but realizes that it is a lot for a student to deal with housing issues, figure out their food, walk to school as well as deal with midterms and submissions all at the same time. She also says grades are everything for a student and research students should not have to deal with the added stress of finding housing. 

A Mess of “Clerical Errors,” Noise and Bad WiFi

Nathan Noble, a current Park Place resident, a sophomore at UNR and an elected senator with the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, Reno (ASUN) had no different experience.

He was tired of living in the overpriced dorms and was excited to be able to choose his roommates before moving into Park Place. As a person who loves to cook his own meals, he was also elated to have a kitchen. However, he too faced constant delays for his own move-in and could not do so until November 12. His initial move-in date was July 30th.

While waiting for his apartment to be ready, he too had to put up with residing at Circus Circus. He was paid back in installments of $500 as he had a roommate.

“The common feeling was that it was hush money really to stop anyone from filing action against them or from  trying to do something about it,” he said. “But basically that money only went so far because it didn't even compensate for rent. Also when I moved out, they still charged me for Circus Circus rent. Their accounting structures are very bad. They were scrambling and it's not the fault of the front desk workers or the Park Place workers. They were honestly doing the best they could in a terrible situation. It's really the fault of management for not handling this very professionally. I know people who never got their checks, I know people who never got their prorations, people who ended up paying for parking for two months when they were living in Circus Circus, where parking is free, just a bunch of very serious clerical errors.”

Nathan describes his Circus Circus experience as a deeply unpleasant one. They did not have amenities, noise control and the wifi kept going out which made it impossible for students to do school work.

Additionally, Nathan went to his friend’s house to be able to cook and bring food back for storage for the rest of the week. Nathan was thankful to have a vehicle that helped him in this but expressed his concerns for the many students he represents.

There was the emergence of an idea to craft a housing resolution for students. ‘The most important thing that we can do with our voice is advocate on behalf of students who are suffering from a lack of basic necessities,” he said. “And as I painfully discovered over the past few months, housing is certainly one of them, usually the emphasis is put on food, water and all that stuff. But housing is a key one. Especially if you're going to school the next day. I believe that a resolution will not only allow the university to take some form of broader action to adjust their process for dealing with housing complexes off campus but I also believe that it's important for the student body to stand up and claim control over what's going on because it affects students and there should be some kind of student oversight.”

Not Quite “Awesome Apartments”

Another student who prefers to remain anonymous about his Park Place experience says that the place dubbed itself as ‘awesome apartments’ made him hemorrhage his finances. The website states: “ Park Place is designed with the needs of today’s college student in mind. Experience the difference in Reno’s new definition of luxury student living.”

“The entire time they had no intention of letting anyone out of their lease, so I made contact with the company that owns Park Place at Reno directly to be let out of my lease,” he said. “I had had enough of being told one thing and then having the rug pulled from under my feet at the last minute. The leasing office kept stringing the students who were stuck at the casino along for a long while. Luckily, I was able to be released, but a majority of the other students were landed with the hotel room. Any who asked to be released from their leases were turned away (sometimes rudely) because they had given ‘alternate accommodations’ as stated in the lease. Clearly, this did not mean ‘equal’ accommodations. Some who were paying for separate rooms in an apartment with a roommate were given a room at Circus Circus with two beds. Their accommodations at the casino were in no way proportional to what the students are/were paying to an unfinished apartment complex. Because there are no kitchens, the students had no choice but to hemorrhage finances even further on expensive meals or choose to eat cheap unhealthy alternatives. I do not know if what they are doing is legal, i.e., to not even give the choice for tenants to break their leases in order to search for homes. But I do believe something must be done to rectify what it is that they have done, which is to take advantage of students by giving false promises that they were unable to fulfill,” he said in a lengthy explanation of his frustrations.

One student, Eli Denmead, struck out on the sunny looking Ponderosa Village, which was just the beginning of his problems.

A Long Run Around to Find Housing

Eli Denmead, a second-year Master’s student in History, has been through a long run around himself, which has seen him bail on two places. Denmead initially applied to Ponderosa Village, a housing complex located on campus only available to graduate students, professional students, & faculty and staff.

He says he did not receive any correspondence from them for about four months. On contacting them again Denmead learned that the apartment complex had undergone a change of management and he was not placed on the waiting list at all.

The person from the office then placed him on the eighth position of the waiting list. He was assured that he would not have an issue getting in for the Fall. However, a few months had gone by and he had heard nothing from the administration on his allotment. He sent a few emails that never got answered. On calling the apartment complex directly he learned that the leases were sent out and was also informed that if he had not received one, he would not have secured a place. Denmead was angry.

Being a few weeks away from the start of the semester, Denmead contacted Park Place to find a place there.

He says he was offered a spot in the three by three units. In utter desperation, he jumped at the opportunity. His application was quickly pushed through and the lease was signed in a few days. He faced a similar fate to the students mentioned above though. A week before classes, he received emails regarding lodging preferences and amenities at Circus Circus.

On contacting Park Place he was informed that the apartment was not ready for move-in and the students would have to reside at the casino for a few weeks.

“I was frustrated, but they promised a number of amenities and to reimburse portions of our rent to make up for it. I moved into the Circus Circus, under the assumption that the move in date would September 15th. As that date approached, they told us that the new move in date was actually October 1st. They again promised to reimburse portions of rent for us. Once that date approached, another bombshell dropped. Building One was ready to move in, and the bottom two floors of building two would be ready the next week, but the top three floors (including my unit) would not be ready until November 12th. I was now looking at another month and a half in a hotel, without access to a kitchen, and only a small portion of the rent for the next month and a half would be reimbursed,” he said.

Our Town Reno contacted Park Place to get a reply on these multiple situations we have recounted but did not hear back by time of publication.

Because of the trouble that he was facing, Denmead decided to discontinue living with Park Place at this point when his friend mentioned a room available was available for him at a shared house they were renting. Sadly he is paying double rent now, $580 at his new place, and $925 at Park Place which he is trying to get out of as soon as possible.

“I quickly jumped at the opportunity, as I was tired of living without a kitchen in a hotel. I contacted the complex to let them know I would not be moving in, but was told that I was still responsible for the lease and would only be let out if I could find someone to replace me. I have spent the last two months attempting to find someone to take my space to no avail, despite the fact that I was not made aware of construction issues before signing my lease and the fact that I have never stepped foot in the unit,” he said.

My Own Predicament

I, as an international graduate student from India, battled similar issues while searching for an affordable student apartment in Reno. I was 7800 miles away from this country on a different time zone, calculating the currency exchange to be able to understand if I could afford living and studying in Reno for 18 months, with the amount of stipend I was being offered.

Houses rented out by families were way above my budget and Ponderosa Village facilities (which looked like one of the best options available) were not answering any of my emails. Cheaper housing options were already filled up.

Tormented by the situation, I started emailing and connecting with other international students who were currently living here. Finally, with the help of some kind Indian students on Facebook, I was able to secure a place in an off campus apartment.

My rent is $665 and I barely make a little more than $1000. I belong to a middle class family in India where my mother is the only other member of my family. I do not have a father. My visa does not permit me to work more than 20 hours as per the federal stipulation for International students. I work 15 hours/week currently. I have managed a one room apartment here in Reno with a shared kitchen area with four other flatmates. I walk to school and curtail grocery shopping in order to avoid a hand to mouth situation.

In part two of this series of articles I will explore the recent actions taken by the Graduate Student Association in order to draw attention of the higher authorities to help solve this problem.

Our Town Reno reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

Ben Davis, A Local Photographer Documents the Changing Face of Reno Nights

A pandemic project that is turning into a historical document on the shifting face of Reno is nearly a year old. For local photographer Ben Davis, he sees his work becoming a medium to educate Reno about what downtown is and as a tool to promote improving the downtown corridor.

“I came out one evening, figured out that Reno’s got a lot of bright lights and the town sort of comes alive at night,” said Davis. He is the person behind the Instagram account Reno After Dark. At the encouragement of his wife, he began spending evenings downtown a year ago and creating images at night. Over this time he has seen people throw things out the window from the former Harrah’s casino, a near riot and tense conflict between a large crowd and a handful of police officers under the Reno Arch. He’s seen more and more motels get demolished and replaced with empty fenced lots. 

For Davis, whose bread and butter photography is corporate, commercial and event based, this is a way for him to push his creative skillset and improve as a photographer. 

“My dad bought me my first film camera when I was 10 and that sort of laid the foundation for photography,” he explained. He quickly realized the analog format was too slow for him and without the instant gratification, moved onto graphic design. A quick look into his photography shows his background as a graphic designer. He would return to photography when he purchased his first digital camera in 2005. 

“Street photography is probably one of the harder genres of photography because you’re trying to take something that in of itself might be boring,” he explained. It is a process that he constantly finds a challenge in and by getting out one or two days a week to create these images continues to grow creatively. “You’re trying to make it interesting for people and look for the art in it.”

“I wanted to show the world a little bit of the things that make Reno unique,” explained Davis. 

He spends usually a Friday and or Saturday evening roaming the streets of the downtown corridor, looking for ways to make the normal interesting. To get people to look at scenes they take for granted in a new light. Some nights he tries to tell the story of what Reno is on that particular evening. Other times he challenges himself to make images of only red subjects. It is a scavenger hunt for him each night. 

“The other interesting thing too is a lot of locals don’t come down to downtown,” Davis said. He treats his work as a way to illustrate what locals are missing by not visiting the heart of town. He hopes his work can serve as a method of advocacy for improving what downtown is and making Reno a better, safer, more enjoyable place. 

“I don’t think most locals appreciate how much of downtown Jacobs [Entertainment] has purchased and that there hasn’t been a whole lot of public debate about it,” he said referring to the ongoing acquisition of property by the Cleveland-based company. He is concerned about the process of having that much land in a developer's hands and not having an open and valuable public conversation about the goals and vision for the future. “I think that’s kind of scary a little bit.”

As night photography project continues into a second year, Davis is hopeful his body of work will serve as a historical document of what Reno was and is becoming. He remembers snapshots he created over seven years ago that showcase a far different Reno. He has no plans to wrap this project up and looks forward to getting out there each night and creating color-rich images of what Reno is becoming.

Being a street photographer, Davis also faces ethical challenges. The lifelong debate about creating a photograph of a person in a public space is something he thinks of every time he presses the shutter button. He acknowledges that it is not okay to photograph people in a vulnerable state, such as the unhoused, but understands that we live in a surveillance state. By walking in a public space, people agree to be photographed. 

Legally, under the First Amendment, photographers can create images of people without their permission. It is when the photographer becomes obnoxious, confrontational, or creates the images with bad intent the ethics are challenged. 

“I try to be respectful to people that are out and about,” he said. “I want to be out of the way.” As a documentarian, he wants to observe and be a fly on the wall of what is happening downtown. “I try to represent them [people] fairly.”

Davis’s work can be found online at www.RenoAfterDark.com. His work is defined by vibrance colors and bleeds neon. “I feel like I have a good pulse of the city,” he explained. “I like to advocate for the city,” he said.

Reporting and top photo by Richard Bednarski for Our Town Reno

RoMar Tolliver, Giving What He Didn't Get as a Kid with Black Wall Street Reno

Black Wall Street Reno is a nonprofit organization spearheaded by its two founders Donald Griffin and Romar Tolliver, going stronger and stronger in its second year of existence. Both men hope that their organization can be one that steers local teens away from the adversity that they faced as youths and young men.

“This organization is to provide preventative measures for teens,” Tolliver said during a recent interview with Our Town Reno. For him, Black Wall Street Reno is a way for youths to channel their energy into productive learning and enrichment activities instead of being out on the streets.

“I got in trouble as a kid,” Tolliver said, referring to the time he spent in the Nevada Youth Training Center (NYTC) when he was younger. His experience at NYTC was an eye opening one, and it’s marked in his memory as eight months of his youth that could have been spent doing something better.

The Nevada Youth Training Center is a you correctional facility in Elko, Nevada that has appeared in the news multiple times for wrong reasons. "It was a lot of discipline-- things of that nature," Tolliver said. "But it kind of helps you prioritize and focus on the things you need to do in life."

As a Reno native, Tolliver has experienced what it’s like to grow up as an at-risk youth in Reno, but he doesn’t see his ordeals as a purely negative experience.

“It’s kind of a give and take,” Tolliver said. “We wouldn’t have created [Black Wall Street Reno], if I hadn’t gone through those hardships.”

As a non-profit organization, Tolliver believes that it’s important to connect with the youth community. “You have to have, you know, some empathy to where you can kind of put yourself in their shoes and kind of understand what they're going through.”

Tolliver gave out lunches at a recent outreach event.

Pulling from his own experiences and feedback from the kids, he is able to plan programs that cater to their needs.

“When we are passing out lunches, we interact with them, you know. Ask, what are they learning in school ... You know, how would they give back to the community?” Tolliver said.

Over the summer, Black Wall Street Reno took 75 kids to Project Discovery on Mount Rose Highway. Project Discovery offers dynamic learning programs and child-focused summer camps.

“There were a few at-risk kids that came along with us, and we could tell throughout the day that they were slowly opening up-- coming out of their shell,” Tolliver said about the day they went to Project Discovery.  “Learning social skills, kind of questioning their upbringing and, you know, the habits that they're developing. None of these kids knew each other. So to see them in their shell and uptight at the beginning of the program, to supporting each other by the end of the program-- it was a great experience,” he said.

More recently, Black Wall Street Reno hosted a Thanksgiving food drive, partnered with Reno/Sparks Mutual Aid to provide a free community narcan training, and currently pass out after-school lunches outside their office on Wells Ave. on a weekly basis.

As the organization continues to grow and learn, they hope to provide more outreach programs that include financial literacy workshops, and food and clothing drives for the community.

“We've grown tremendously from the community support,” Tolliver said. “That grassroots support kind of keeps the ball rolling.”

Their next event will be a holiday toy and shoe drive on Saturday, December 18.  “I’m trying to give away a hundred pairs of shoes and a hundred toys,” Tolliver said, adding that shoes will go to teens aged 12 to 17, and toys will go to kids younger than that. They are looking for donations, which can be dropped off at their office between 3pm and 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

Reporting by Lynn Lazaro for Our Town Reno

Perla, Evicted as a Child, Now Organizing to Give Gifts at Our Place

Crystal Gomez, who works at Our Place, was asking friends and family if anyone knew any businesses they could contact to participate in the family shelter’s holiday gift giving program. 

“Usually a lot of of businesses put up a tree and people, their customers, will buy a gift for somebody in the tree,” Perla Gomez said during a recent interview from the checkout room at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.

“So my sister’s like, do you guys know any businesses that would be interested because it's been a rough couple years? And I was, I kind of was like, well, I don't really know a lot of business owners, so I kind of stayed quiet. And I was like, ‘could we do it like as a school? Like maybe we could do it at the journalism school?’ And she said as long as families are getting presents, you know, it doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be a business, but that's how it's been done previously.”

It was worth a shot. Perla emailed her colleagues, hoping a few might be willing to participate.  She says she got five responses in the first ten minutes.   “So I was like, okay, we'll do a family. And then I had like another five and then three more. So I was like, we have 13 and my sister's like, oh, okay, then you could probably help two families.”  She added a few friends to the initiative to where she’s now buying gifts for four families.  As part of the program the families have written Christmas lists for their kids to get special presents. 

She’s happy she went ahead and did the group email. “I was a little bit shy to put it out there at first because I wasn't sure how to word it. So I wasn't sure if people would take me seriously, but I was excited. I think this is special because when people ask for help, they usually ask for the necessities, like just food, shelter and things to help them survive,” Perla said. “So when you give them something out of their way, it just helps people restore their humanity. The real gift is giving.”

Perla, born and raised in the area, and a graduate of North Valleys High School, speaks from a lived experience of hardships growing up.  This included moving repeatedly and several evictions.

“The first time I was evicted, I was in sixth grade, I think. I had moved out, my parents separated in fourth grade, but then they got back together and right when they got back together, we got evicted and then my parents separated again. So it was just a lot of moving and I didn't really realize like why we got evicted. It was just like, oh whatever, I'm moving again.”

She remembers being upset and confused even though others in her family helped. 

“We didn't get to take a lot of our stuff. We had to leave a lot of our stuff there.  I was just like confused. Like why, you know, why do we have to leave? That was like the house I grew up in. We had an apartment before that, which I was too young to remember. Before that we had a little apartment, then we lived with our aunts. It was like 10 people in one house. And then we moved into this place and this is where I called home. I had a slide in the backyard. So when we left I was very upset because that had felt like hope. And I feel like I haven't felt at home since that place because we were moving back and forth.”

Her own father has been unhoused, as even though he works hard and makes ends meet usually, he has suffered from alcoholism.  Perla says this has increased her empathy for the unhoused.  

“One time we got evicted when I was like 15 and my dad stayed at that place,” Perla remembers, of her father surviving as best he could.  “So he'd hop in through the window and we'd follow him and he was in that place, but he didn't like to ask for help.”

Perla finds rising prices alarming.  In addition to her UNR job, she’s been a server at a local chain restaurant, and now a bartender at a nightclub.  

Perla is not surprised it’s often those who have struggled who are the most generous to those in need. 

“I feel like because you know what it feels like to feel hopeless,” she said.  “It’s easy to empathize with people to understand where they're coming from. Even if it's not the same story, you know like how hard it is to feel hopeless or sad or heartbroken.” 

“I think it's awful,” Perla said of rising rents. “I think a person with a regular salary it's hard enough for them. And most people don't have a regular salary. I'm single and it's hard to afford a place by yourself. I can't imagine with having kids or just not having a consistent job, especially during these times.”

She said she was inspired by an Our Town Reno article once on the importance of just talking to people who are unhoused.  She goes by the area behind the Peppermill Casino, where just next to a park with tents, there are some new luxury apartments.  “I see a lot of people working. I see a lot of people reading, like educating themselves, people with cell phones, they just can't afford a house. I’m like, like what is going on? Like we all see have a problem right here,” she said of the juxtaposition. 

“These studios go for 2000. So I think it's just very ridiculous. Our priorities are not focused on the right things in Reno.” 

She recommends others to do what she’s done with their own workplaces. “I feel like it's worth it. I think it's important to ask and even if you're feeling nervous, it's really nice to give back and the worst that can happen is people say no and that's it. Like, nothing else can happen, but nobody's gonna beat you up for trying to help anybody. So I think just go for it. And there's somebody that's in a tough situation right now that you could help while you're okay.”

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2021

Savannah, Feeling Squeezed and Facing Debilitating Move due to Jacobs Buyout Spree

Deferred Agenda Item with Looming Sale

Savannah, a resident of the Gibson apartments, has heard the building’s sale to Jacobs Entertainment will be finalized before the end of the year. This means she has no idea how long her convenient and cozy apartment which costs her $970 per month with utilities will still be an option for her. She decided to speak out at the most recent Reno City Council meeting, even though the agenda item concerning her future, C1, with Jacobs Entertainment requesting the abandonment of a right of way in the Church Lane, Stevenson Street and West Second Street area , was then pushed back to the next meeting on January 12th.

That might be too late for her at that point, though.

“I had a lease all the way until August of next year, and then just like a month ago, they sent us all these letters to sign to take the lease to month to month,” Savannah explained. “And then we found out that, yeah, they're selling the property, it's set to close, and we're probably gonna be offered eviction notices on the first of January telling us to leave.”

She’s trying to see if she can get any help from lawyers pro bono or empathy from city council members. She wonders if there could be a zoning issue due to part of the plan being the expansion of a so-called entertainment district.

“We've kind of been looking at laws and seeing if there's anybody who could do like pro bono work and help us kind of figure out if there's any route we can take to protecting our home,” Savannah said. “For the most part, we haven't gotten any solid information about what we can do. So we're just kind of talking to the city council members and seeing if they can do anything from their end to stop the sale.”

With city council members and Mayor Hillary Schieve posing with casino mogul Jeffrey Jacobs at different events including on bulldozers set to demolish motels, as well as approving without barely any conditions what the developer keeps on seeking before the council, that seems like a long shot.

“I really like my apartment. It's my home. This is the first apartment that I've lived in by myself,” Savannah said. “Before this, I had roommates and lived with family. It’s really significant to me personally. Also, it's just a great building and the fact of the matter is in Reno, we don't have a lot of housing options that are inexpensive. My rent is 875. And then with utilities it's 970. So I don't know where I would live and, you know, I wouldn't wanna live too far away from my work or too far away from school. So yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen.”

Fearing for Her Future and for Her Neighbors

The Gibson apartment are also part of Reno’s history, more and more of which seems to be discarded during this current gentrification push.

“It’s definitely an older building,” Savannah explained. “I think it was built in like 1910 or something like that, so like a prewar building, and on the inside it's very cozy. It has like a really homey feel to it. Everybody kind of knows everybody else too. Like, we all have our neighbors that we hang out with and, you know, everybody talks, there's only like maybe 15 of us who live in the building. My apartment specifically is actually pretty big . It used to be from what our landlord told us, it used to be like a boarding house for a school, and then it got converted into singular apartments.”

She said some other residents don’t even know what’s happening while others are already trying to find new places.

“My one friend who lives down the hall, she has been like trying to find another place. And she's like, I don't know. She's like, ‘I'm gonna give up, I'm gonna live in like a house with five other people because there's no other options.’ A lot of the people who live here are families.  I know the lady who lives down the hall from me, she has two babies. And they only live in one bed. And so I don't know, how would she be able to find a two bed, you know, you just won't and you know, a lot of the people here work downtown and it's convenient because it's right there. So I just don't know where all these people would go or, you know, how they would commute or anything.”

Savannah works six days a week, up to 40 hours at a downtown motel, in addition to being a student, and she only makes $13.25 an hour, meaning her relatively cheap rent already eats up half her income.

“If I do get kicked out of here because it gets sold honestly, I'll probably have to like find two or three roommates and move further out of town, which I really don't wanna do,” she said. “I hate driving. I'm terrible at it.”

“The Gibson apartments that I live in are actually connected kind of to this other building that is registered as a historical landmark and that was built by the guy who actually lives in here, his family built it. And so it's been like passed down through the generations. But if this plot of land sells, then they're gonna have to move the house,” Savannah said of a cute home in the same area, pictured above.

Not a Fan of the Jacobs Plan

Savannah, who comes from Fernley, and has lived some in Los Angeles, is not a fan of the Jacobs plan and its already built Glow Plaza with giant animal statues and a cemetery of motel replica signs.

“They're gonna buy out this whole entire area and expand the Glow park, which is that little strip on Fourth. I see absolutely no reason for that. First of all, Reno isn't Vegas. I don't see why we need to keep trying to be like Vegas. We're different. I think the people know that and honestly, we've had a lot more people moving here. So I just don't see why we have to keep like commodifying our town to make it more palatable to tourists when it's like, there are real people who live here who need homes. And if we just keep bulldozing them, where are we all gonna go?”

From what she’s heard of it and seen so far, she feels the Jacobs plan is a mismatch for what Reno is.

“I think a lot of people from Reno are more focused on like being outdoorsy or like having like a community. I really feel here in Reno, that's what we value most is our sense of community and our sense of togetherness. That's why I just don't feel like this whole Jacobs thing really plays into this. I feel like Vegas, you know, it's very flashy and like exciting. And it seems like it is the type of place that just wants to have people brought in, you know, for the sake of it. Um, and so I feel like, you know, even if you're just looking at like pictures of Vegas, like it has this very eye catching look, candy colored, you know, like basically like cocaine but I feel like Reno is like almost the exact opposite. It's like, everybody here wants to be mellow and live their lives and kind of go about things together, you know? I feel the Jacobs Entertainment thing just doesn't go with this. Like every time I drive past the Glow park, it seems like somebody literally just lifted something up, plopped it there and was like, have it, enjoy this. So it's like, so mismatched, it doesn't fit in with anything. And I just don't see why that has to be a part of this area specifically. It's vintage, it's old and we all like that. And you know, if you want that type of thing, go downtown, go on Virginia Street, where there actually are tourists, you know? “

Savannah’s apartment is across the street from the Castaway Inn which was recently boarded up by Jacobs Entertainment.

Feeling Sad for the Sudden Closure of the Castaway Inn Across the Street

Savannah lives across the street from the now boarded up and already bought out Castaway Inn. It also sits next to the now also boarded up 7/11 Motor Lodge.

She’s heard people including politicians call these places seedy and dangerous but she doesn’t share that sentiment.

“I think it's relatively safe. I mean, I've never had any issues. I don't tend to walk around at night just because, you know, I'm 21 that seems unsafe. But in general, it's you know, it's relatively quiet around here. I mean, I haven't had any issues,” she said. “The Castaway Inn seems like it was just kind of a place where people lived.  I mean, it was pretty packed and then just like randomly one day it was like closed up nobody's there and everybody got kicked out. So that's kind of what I'm worried about happening here. I don't want it to be like one day we have a house then the next day it's just, everybody's kicked out, and I'm gone.”

For the longer term, she still believes in the election process, always pushing her friends to register and to vote, having worked herself on national campaigns in the past. This issue is local though, she says, and local elections coming up in 2022 are crucial.

“It’s really going to be those elected city officials who are making the decisions that are going to impact us the most. You know Joe Biden isn't gonna get across his desk and say ‘Oh, look at that 441 West Second Street is getting sold, you know? But Mayor Hillary Schieve she is, you know, and that's something she might care about and actually might be able to do something about. So I hope that she does. And obviously I encourage anybody who cares even a little bit to vote.” 

In the meantime, she is going to continue to speak out now that she’s started and will encourage others to do the same.

“I definitely think more people should speak up,” Savannah said. “I really feel like if we don't speak up people aren't gonna really realize how important it is. I mean, specifically at the city council meeting, we went to, I mean, it was every pretty much every single comment was about the housing crisis and about gentrification. I just feel like everybody should speak up when they can.”

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2021

A Local Author Seeks Better Promotion Possibilities Against the Amazon Tide

“I moved [to Reno] in ‘95 and you know, the food wasn't as good then but the eclecticness of the people and the culture was great,” Thomas Lloyd Qualls, a local Reno author, said in our interview, “I'd love that it was a small town and it was close to a lot of cool stuff. In a few hours, I could be in wine country or San Francisco or in less than an hour, I could be in Tahoe. So I thought ‘This is perfect. I'll just stay a while.’ And here I am 25 years later.” 

After leaving law school in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Qualls followed a few friends out to Reno and searched for freelance jobs to bulk up his portfolio. He landed a job writing up appeals and doing research for a few lawyers, “but the writing was still going on in the background the whole time.” Once his first book Waking Up at Rembrandt’s came out in 2009, it gained a lot of attention as the ‘Best Novel’ three years in a row in the Reno News and Review’s ‘Best Of’ section.

The attention was so massive that “Oliver X (with RenoTahoe2Nite), who was one of the first people to review Waking Up at Rembrandt's, invited me to submit a piece whenever I wanted. So I started doing that. And then he gave me a regular column and then the column went from 500 words to 1000 words and they moved me up to the front of the magazine and we just did that for I think like between six and seven years. I started in January of 2012. And then I stopped doing it so that I could focus on getting Painted Oxen out the door.”

While working on that novel, Qualls conducted interviews in Reno based on his own perceptions of the Tarot. He used these interviews as a “literary vehicle” and even rewrote his own descriptions of the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot. He then “took those descriptions which are part of the thread that runs through the novel. And I would assign a character to those so, we would pick four people to interview and assign each of them a card. And then I asked them questions that were all pulled out of those descriptions that I had written to see how much their personality or their life story matched that card and they were always spot on for some reason.” Interviews he recorded included some with local artists and the mayor.

Qualls remarked that in Reno, “there's a higher mindedness and a really cool artistic spirit here. I think it's great that we're the gateway for Burning Man because the town became an infusion of all of that creative energy and a lot of that art has ended up here. All of that has really contributed to life here.” He goes on to say that Reno is similar to a magnet that pulls people back. “I would watch people try to leave and then they just end up a year later back here. For whatever reason, Reno just called them back because they couldn't find that same thing, that same electricity and community in other places.”

Artists come in several different categories from painters to graphic designers to authors. The Reno community has art shows and galleries appearing all over the downtown area. “I think Reno is more art friendly,” Qualls said, “I am fortunate to have a pretty good network and community here but when COVID kept people from rolling out, there were over 80 people that showed up to Sundance for the launch of Painted Oxen.” The closeness of the community and the familiarity from the public made him feel at home since “the feedback that I got when I was writing the column for Reno/Tahoe Tonight magazine, I would just be in a restaurant. One of the servers or somebody that I didn't know would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I really love your work, or I really loved your piece this month.’”

However, an artist is not an artist without their struggles. Qualls said that “most people think writing a book and getting a book contract is like ‘Oh, that's it. I'm golden now, right?’ And 20 years ago, you could make a decent living. If you were able to get a publisher and get a book out on the shelves, it was going to sell and you were going to make at least something. Maybe that's not the only source of income you can have, but you're gonna do okay as an author, and then the internet changed everything.”

With the convenience of Amazon and online ordering, being an author is harder than it seems. “There's way more books being published and it's way harder to rise above the noise and the vast amount of authors out there are actually on bookshelves in bookstores. Sundance has an online system where you can just order your books. So they don't even have to carry it in order to sell it, they just go out and buy it from where it's available,” Qualls said.

His most recent book, Happiness is an Imaginary Line in the Sand, didn’t start out as a book at all. Qualls states that he “didn't set out to write a book when I was doing it. It just turned out that I had something like 75 essays that I had written between the magazine and there's a few other online forums that I wrote for. It was a way to make them available to a broader audience. My audience was mostly local, so I thought this would be a way to get them out to a broader world.” 

Using a similar approach to Painted Oxen, Qualls planned on doing “a lot of small, intimate gatherings and two Oracle readings basically. I created an Oracle deck with one card for each of the essays and had someone pull a card and then I read the essay where we kind of talk about how that relates to their life. So it's an idea that could go in backyards and living rooms. Whoever wants to host could invite their own people.”

Unlike the title of his newest book, Qualls says that “ I don’t pose myself as someone who's enlightened or who is even happy all the time. But as someone who has slogged through the mud of life, you know, there's a lot. Up until six months ago, I was a criminal defense lawyer for a big chunk of my adult life. And so I'm used to seeing the ugliness and the muddiness of life.”

“But it's like everything,” Qualls remarks as he thought back on the difficulties he had gone through over the course of his career, “It's like podcasts. Podcasts are everywhere. How do you rise above the noise? How do you hear the signal above the noise? If you're a reader who wants to read good books or if you're a writer who wants to get your book out there? What do you do to make a difference?”

Reporting by Sol George and Henry Stone shared with Our Town Reno

Dr. Sherilyn Duckworth, Helping Teens Locally with a Friend of Mind

From Her Own Experiences

After surviving an impulsive suicide attempt as a teenager and ten years of untreated depression, Dr. Sherilyn Duckworth realized there were major cracks in the health system. Particularly, more effort and care was needed addressing the mental health of the youth. Over the course of her education, she began collecting pieces she hoped would fill the cracks. 

Now in Reno, she is working to help others and there’s lots of work to be done. Nevada ranks in the top third for teen suicide. In the past ten years, the average rate of suicide amongst teenagers in Nevada doubled.

Duckworth recently completed her doctorate program in Health Education and Promotion with an emphasis in behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During her education she created a yoga meditation program.

“One of the things that I put together is I need to be there for adolescents who may not have the help that I needed at the time,” said Duckworth. After her suicide attempt, her mother did not allow her to take anti-depressants and could not afford the time off needed to take her to therapy. It was, and still is, a major hole in the system affecting both lower-income and people of color across the nation. 

Duckworth was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship, which addresses the social determinants of health. With this opportunity, she created a program that helps adolescents struggling with mental health issues. 

“I thought it would be cool to use yoga to help youth with their depression and anxiety and stress,” explained Duckworth. During the fellowship she created a program that utilizes yoga meditation to help adolescents living in a public housing community in Birmingham, AL. After seeing the impact of her work and completing the year-long fellowship, Duckworth could not see herself just walking away from the program. 

Recent screengrabs from the project’s affiliated Instagram.

Reducing Stigma, Normalizing Conversations

A Friend of Mind was born. Her non-profit helps youth battle depression. It provides access to yoga and mediation to anyone experiencing anxiety or stress or depression and serves as an affordable and accessible tool. The organization was created in 2018 and has four chapters, one in Birmingham, AL, another one in Atlanta, GA, and one in Duckworth’s hometown, Demopolis, AL, and most recently, Duckworth began a chapter here in Reno. 

She relocated from the south to Reno earlier this year and Duckworth fell in love with the people. “Everyone has been so welcoming...I have just gotten so much support,” she explained about her short time in town. She has been able to use this support to help grow the local chapter of A Friend of Mind. 

“There is definitely a need to for adolescents to get access to mental health and suicide prevention resources here,” explained Duckworth. Since opening her organization she has received many calls from parents of teenagers. She has found that her work is not only needed but being well received. 

Currently she is also in the process of working with local school officials to create an afterschool program and getting connected with local detention centers.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” she said. “It is really important to remember that we can’t see our mental disorders.” She emphasized the importance of being nothing but supportive of those experiencing mental disorders, especially those who may not have the best quality of mental health. She understands the conversations that need to happen can be difficult, but nonetheless, they are important. So important, she said, that they need to happen with the youth from an early age. 

“We need to have a conversation about mental health like we do about football,” Duckworth explained. She understands, from a first-hand experience that adolescents need a safe haven and in order to get there, the conversations need to happen, and useful programs need to be put into place .

“I don’t think people realize how common mental disorders are among adolescents,” Duckworth said. These include everything from depression, anxiety, PTSD and attention behaviors. She said not being able to identify these common behaviors as part of mental health, is a disservice to the youth. “If we don’t recognize how common they are we are not able to recognize how quickly they need help.” 

While A Friend of Mind is in its infancy, the impact can be far reaching.

“Providing these outlets, normalizing these conversations and being aware how common suicide and mental disorders are among adolescents,” Duckworth explained are the strongest assets everyone has at their disposal to help alleviate the mental health struggles of the younger generation. “It’s going to take a village to decrease the suicide rates of adolescents.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

A Sister's Relentless Push to Clear Her Late Brother's Name and Help Others

A Battle Going on For Decades

Later this week, on December 9th, Tonja Brown, who signs her emails as an advocate for inmates and the innocent, will be back at it. She has cleared out that day to speak in Carson City on behalf of her brother Nolan Klein at a Pardons Board hearing. Klein died in 2009 at the age of 54 in the infirmary at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center. He never wavered from saying he was innocent.

Brown will take part in the public comment sections, “to ask them to set aside one hearing per year to allow those who've been wrongfully convicted and passed away [for] their families and their loved ones, the opportunity to continue to exonerate their names,” she explained to Our Town Reno in a recent phone interview.

Her prepared statement begins: “I am here to ask this Pardons Board to place on the Agenda of their first Pardons Board hearing set for in the year 2022, to have an open discussion with its members to allow the Pardons Board to hear Factual Innocence Posthumously cases once per year, until a law is implemented to allow the courts to hear them. “

The opening of the statement for this week above.

Clearing an Entire Family’s Reputation

This effort she said is not only to clear her brother’s name.

“That stigma still is attached to the person's name and not only the name, it's the family for many years,” she said. “I was called the sister of a rapist and you know, things like that. And it's very hurtful. And then the truth is, when you have law enforcement and district attorneys who would hold exculpatory evidence from cases and innocent people are wrongfully convicted, family members, the victims, those wrongfully convicted, they are all victims of the system. Even to this day, I still get called out by people, even from law enforcement who don't even know the facts of this case, and I'm done with it. And just like everyone else who's been in this situation, you hear all these people who've been wrongfully convicted, who are being exonerated. Their families never gave up on them and they would never want to give up on them even after death.”

The March 1989 conviction was for two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary and sexual assault with a deadly weapon. It was never overturned.  In his 2019 letter, Washoe County District Attorney Christopher Hicks wrote the Nevada Supreme Court rejected appeals in 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002. and 2009. Klein’s death came just a week after the Director of Corrections at the time ordered staff to begin preparing paperwork for a compassionate release due to his failing health, including pneumonia and liver failure from Hepatitis C.

From the Nolan Klein Says Facebook page, one of many documents highlighted, this one related to confusion on the amount of facial hair the perpetrator allegedly had, and differences in Klein’s lineup and arrest photos.

Fighting for Others as Well

Our Town Reno first met Brown at a yearly protest for families of those killed by local law enforcement. Regular participants also follow the Nolan Klein Says page.

“I think a lot of them feel that they're not getting the justice and you have to look at who's behind all of this too, because when you're dealing with officers, and then you have them policing their own, it's an issue,” she said of having empathy for fellow protesters and one of the main problems they see in how the system is set up. “It shouldn't be policing your own. And now they changed it to where it's a different department. Sparks is now looking into Reno or whatever the case. They don't want them policing their own. And I agree.”

Documents from those who oppose her actions have labelled the Reno Cop Watch Facebook page where details of the Klein case have been outlined as well as “cop haters.”

“We don't all start out hating cops,” Brown wanted to clarify. “I'm not a cop hater, but I certainly support these people at the protests because I have personally seen bad cops and not all are bad cops, but when the good cops keep quiet, it reflects back onto them as well.”

Even if her brother isn’t cleared before she dies, Brown says others will take over.  “I have people lined up,” she said near the end of our interview, which also went in detail on what she hopes the board will finally see as requiring the conviction’s review and overturn. Many of those details can be found on the Nolan Klein Says and Reno Cop Watch Facebook pages and some of this will be repeated on December 9th.

“What I'm trying to do is to help, not just my brother, but I'm putting Nolan’s case on trial before the Nevada Pardons board in an effort to get them to look at factual innocence, posthumously, hold hearings and exonerate them, give the families what they want, give them some peace and closure,” she concluded. “And again, if these people are innocent, the real perpetrator is out there committing more crimes.”

Our Town Reno Interview in late November 2021

Cowboy Tom Preparing a Record Thanksgiving With the Help of Donors

The name Cowboy Tom and his business Cookies for Kindness are becoming more and more well known in the Reno community. We first featured him in December 2020.

This year, the former cook in the Air Force, is preparing to serve over 1500 families with dinner kits during the Thanksgiving period, more than double his number last year, and he wants to keep growing, as currently there are many challenges due to the lingering pandemic.

“I am looking at 2022 being a banner year,” he said.

Each kit this year will have enough food to feed a family of six with leftovers. Included in each is all of the Thanksgiving essentials, including a turkey, pumpkin pie, coffee, spice packets, gravy, produce, butter, cranberries, stuffing, hand sanitizer, and cooking instructions. 

The refrigerator truck donated to Tom, has 22,099 lbs of turkeys and 1500 pumpkin pies. Photo taken by Maggie Durling

These kits are going to community members in need. Most will go to families who are struggling financially, including some National Guard families who weren’t able to work because of the pandemic. The rest of the kits will go to local non-profits who will distribute them to the communities they serve. 

The first 125 meals kits went out to non-profits on November 18. The rest of the kits will start to be distributed on November 22, with already 500 people signed up for the first day.

Private donors and non-profits are the reason Tom has been able to make this happen. Some donate money and others donate resources like folding tables or a massive refrigerator truck. He was able to collect $90,000 this year. 

Between his holiday meals and his own business Cookies for Kindness, Tom has a lot going on. He says he maintains his energy in a few different ways.

“Coffee and just helping all of those people,” he said while at work. “I can whine about my pain, or I can feel the joy of giving to my community. Joy wins every time.”

As a disabled veteran, Tom knows what it is like to struggle. He said several times that if it wasn’t for his cookie business and community supporters he too would be homeless. 

The brand new van that Tom was able to buy and insure with the help of private donors has changed the way he is able to run his business. Photo taken by Maggie Durling

The involvement from the community is what makes Tom’s work happen. This summer Tom was able to buy a new van for Cookies for Kindness, also financed by donors. 

The support has also made his services and cookies more widely known.

“Every detail is super important,” says Tom. “I want them to see my heart coming out of that.”

Tom also uses the help of the Bridge Church, right across the street from Reno High School, where the bags will be distributed. He also relies on the help of volunteers and is always in need of more helping hands. 

Reporting by Maggie Durling for Our Town Reno

Rachel Jackson Provides More Visibility for Reno's Queer Community

Rachel Jackson is a junior at UNR majoring in journalism and minoring in photography. After they graduate Jackson hopes to become a photojournalist. *Please note: Jackson uses they/she pronouns and will be referred to as “they” in this article.

Rachel Jackson, 20, is a University of Nevada, Reno junior who recently started Pride of 775, a student-run reporting initiative that focuses on queer experiences here in Reno. Jackson describes Pride of 775 as a photography and podcast based project that looks at both the good and bad experiences of identifying in the LGBTQ+ community.

Jackson currently identifies as a non-binary lesbian, meaning they don’t identify with either the male or female gender, and they are attracted to women. Jackson came out in high school as bisexual and has gone through many iterations of their identity before landing on what they use today.

Jackson said that they are wanting to make friends as restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are being lifted, and meeting queer people through this project was just the way to do it.

“I feel like a lot of people have come into their identities over COVID, and now that we’re slowly inching our way out of it, it’s just fun to talk about,” Jackson said. “Like, ‘What’s your favorite part about being gay? What’s your least favorite part?’”

You can find Pride of 775 at its website (https://prideof775.wordpress.com/) or on Tik Tok (https://www.tiktok.com/@prideof775?lang=en), Twitter (https://twitter.com/Prideof775) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/prideof775/) @Prideof775.

Jackson’s first feature on Pride of 775 is about Cora who also identifies as a non-binary lesbian. A podcast episode features discussions about being lesbian in Reno, the differences about living here compared to living in Las Vegas, and current queer discourse on Tik Tok.

But Jackson is still on the search for people who want to participate in the project.

“I’m just trying to find people who want to sit down and talk about being gay because it’s one of the most fun things to do,” they said.

Jackson said they hope to provide a resource for queer people to listen to other people in the LGBTQ+ community and find comfort knowing that other people are going through the same experience. Though Jackson does say that people who don’t identify as a part of this community are more than welcome to tune in as well.

So far, Jackson said they have gotten a positive reaction about Pride of 775 online and doesn’t expect to get much hate in the future.

Reporting and Photo by Catherine Schofield for Our Town Reno

Adam, A Free Barber with a Prayer for Unhoused Brothers and Sisters

The first time I met Adam was on a sultry September Sunday afternoon. He was in a grey vest and shorts walking the streets of downtown Reno handing burritos and water to the houseless population who were interacting with various volunteer groups. Adam was then serving as part of the Reno Burrito Project.

Months earlier, an Our Town Reno photographer took pictures of him being handcuffed outside the temporary 4th street shelter. Adam has been upset for months now at conditions inside local government-run shelters, has been vocal about it, and says he’s been thrown out too. He says conditions inside are not sanitary enough.

Adam has been unhoused for over a year now himself and lives in his Ford Taurus as best he can. He says he was working at a furniture store near Plumb Lane before he decided to quit that job and look for other paid work. Adam once received burritos from the outreach group, before being one of those helping.

Blaize Akanaab, the founder of the RBP, remembers Adam from one of his earlier Sunday handouts and says it’s yet another indication of the unhoused community coming together to help each other. 

Over the Fall, Adam helped with the Reno Burrito Project. Photo by Kingkini Sengupta.

Adam now often pulls over opposite the Nevada Cares Campus on weekdays in the morning. He parks his car, unmounts a black and steel hydraulic chair, lays out his trimmers and scissors and waits for people to seek out his free service.

Within minutes a line forms of people waiting to get their hair trimmed by Adam for free. Adam is not a barber by profession but says he does this for the love for his unhoused brothers and sisters and for the glory of God.

“When you give them a haircut, they feel better, their confidence is built up, they are more eager to go out and get a job,” he said. After the haircuts Adam gives them a quick prayer and tells them, “Jesus Christ loves them, always has and always will.”

A happy recipient of a free haircut smiles with Adam into the morning sun outside the Nevada Cares Campus. Photo by Kingkini Sengupta.

‘Do you want all off or …,” Adam was discussing lengths of the cut with someone sitting in his chair when Aubrey and her husband Vincent were leaving the shelter to get a job for the day. Vincent immediately decided to queue in the line to get his hair and beard trimmed. 

“Look at this guy, he is getting a haircut, which is awesome,” Aubrey said as she stood teary-eyed watching Vincent get the trim.

“It definitely helps the way people look at you, if you are presentable or not,” Vincent said. “God is using Adam to do his work in the best way possible. It’s a great way to give back to the community.”

In the summer, Adam did not have a place to shower after his haircut sessions and often cleaned himself up in the Truckee River before trying to go find a job. He says life gets tougher when one does not have much money or a home. Adam has a small child, he says, who has been adopted from him against his will.

Adam has various ideas about helping those in his predicament. He  believes that the closed Santa Fe Basque restaurant could be reopened and converted as a cafe for the unhoused so that people could come and drop off the unused food resources provided to them.

He also believes a nearby downtown Reno barber shop could be used as a base for free haircuts for the unhoused. He often discusses these ideas with the people he provides haircuts to. On the day I met him outside the Cares Campus, he said a prayer for Aubrey and then packed up for a new job he had at a gas station.

Our Town Reno Reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

Henry Sotelo, from Journalism to Helping Others in Specialty Courts and Teaching at TMCC

When Henry Sotelo was 18, he came to Reno with a friend who wanted to check out the University. His friend never attended the school but when Sotelo set foot on the campus, he fell in love. “I just loved the place and I’ve been here ever since,” he explained. 

From graduating as a journalist from the Reynolds School of Journalism to performing different jobs in the legal industry, Sotelo has called Reno his home for almost 4o years.  His early education he says was useful for what has since come his way.

“With journalism it was so good, it was a great framework for me to learn how to interview people, talk to people, [and] interact with people,” Sotelo said. He said he always had an interest in law and journalism helped establish a solid foundation for him. Eventually he would realize journalism was too passive. 

Sotelo grew up in Oakland, California. The son of a blue collar worker, he remembers moving every few years to a new house. He recalled in our conversation when San Jose, the Silicon Valley of today, was nothing but groves of fruit trees. Despite being raised in the East Bay, Sotelo’s accent reminded me of a character out of New York City. He has heard this before and can not figure out why. But he rolls with it.

His career did start out in journalism.

“I enjoyed it, the connection, I enjoyed city coverage,” he said about his time at the Sparks Tribune, a now online-only news site. As months in journalism churned on though, he says, “I just wanted to find out more information about how I can be more involved directly with the law.” He had a foray into magazine printing and ran a small one out of San Francisco. 

“But I eventually came back and got into law,” he said. “I came and practiced in Reno because I enjoy the Reno area.” He started with criminal law at the district attorney's office, headed then by Mills Lane, a former boxer, also known as a referee (in the famous Mike Tyson / Evander Holyfield bite fight), television personality and well-known lawyer. Sotelo saw this as an interesting era in Reno where he learned a lot. His next move was working for ten years as a prosecuting attorney for the city. 

“Now I’m doing defense work with the same court, the Reno Municipal Court,” he said, explaining the twists and turns. Sotelo enjoys the accessibility he has with folks in this small scale court system. Many of the people he sees are first time offenders who Sotelo sees as people who need a break from whatever they had going and a nudge in the right direction.

A screengrab explains the Specialty Courts in Reno, which now include a Fresh Start DUI Program, Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) Court, a Young Adult Offender (YAR) Court, a Veterans' Treatment Court (CAMO-RNO), and the Community Court (CC).

When Sotelo was at the District Attorney’s office he recalled the mentality was all about getting criminals behind bars, no matter the crime. “There was no talk about any kind of trying to steer folks, to get them help, to prevent the recidivism,” he said. He recalls judges telling offenders to simply not come back. Kind of like slapping a hungry person on the hand for stealing a loaf of bread rather than feeding them a meal. 

“That was basically the way to try and talk people from coming back,” Sotelo explained, something he knows does not work. 

“Folks don’t really understand the structure which I think is a big problem,” said Sotelo. He believes people should have to take a law 101 course in order to learn how courts function in society today, beyond what is portrayed on Netflix. Maybe this is the teacher in him recruiting students. Another Sotelo occupation now involves teaching law at Truckee Meadows Community College. 

The Reno Municipal court where Sotelo spends a lot of his time deals with misdemeanors which are punishable from zero to six months in jail and up to $1,000 fine. These infractions must occur within the city limits of Reno. Sotelo explained the most serious crimes he works with are domestic batteries and DUIs, which are both misdemeanors for the first and second offense. 

There are four departments within the court now as the city has grown. Sotelo says that within the next decade there will have to be another one added, “so many folks are running through, especially now that we’re working with the specialty courts.” 

After many people were coming back into the court system with multiple offenses, former Judge Paul Hickman applied for a grant that would help establish a specialty court which would help address the underlying issues many of these people were contending with, including alcohol and drug abuse and mental health issues. This was modeled after a court in Albuquerque which came out of the methamphetamine crisis. 

“Over a long haul, 12 to 18 months, you’re continually seeing these clients,” explained Sotelo. A team of folks are now able to work with these people to help them sort through the underlying issues that led to the crime in the first place. “Then bringing in resources to deal with those problems.”

Sotelo has seen people return time and time again into the court system if these issues are not treated. He believes it is close to an 80% return rate without treatment. With treatment, he has seen the number drop in half saving the courts, and in turn, the local taxpayer money while helping community members get back on the right track through these specialty courts. Helping one person has a ripple effect through the family and friends of that person and to Sotelo, this ripple continues into the community, and to him, it is the most important by-product of the specialty courts.  He has seen clients re-establish relationships with family members that had fallen by the wayside. 

This program which also includes clinical treatment for substance abuse helps people who may have lost trust in the court system get back on track. Frequent and random drug tests are also part of the program and through this tough love approach it helps steer people away from the easy button of drugs.

“We’re bringing therapists into the courtroom,” Sotelo said. “Bringing in folks that understand the long term drug use and the harm it has...and how to treat that.” 

Each case is examined on an individual level and helps each person get to a place they can succeed from. Job seeking and help is facilitated in this program and community service is a way to help people build job skills. 

“Showing folks where these resources are because when you're doing your alcohol or drug haze, or whatever you’re into,” explained Sotelo, “you’re not thinking about anything outside that little bubble you’re in.”

The foundation of these specialty courts are mandatory and frequent appearances in court. This establishes accountability. Beyond this Sotelo explained there are small rewards that come with progress and solid behavior. Nothing large but simple things like a gift card to a local coffee shop. Along with support and encouragement, all of these steps help direct single and multiple offenders back towards a healthier life. A branch of this court is held at the county library downtown. This community court is specifically for the unhoused population, which according to some estimates has increased by nearly 900% in the past four years. These courts are also a warm, safe place to get off the streets for a day and have access to services. 

One of the most challenging things the unhoused face is losing important documents that are required to get a job or housing. Often, these are lost in a police sweep where their possessions are treated as trash. 

“Get them in there, give them something to eat, and also talk to them,” explained Sotelo of the new approach. This community court is staffed with social workers who can help address the individual needs of our neighbors in need. The goal is to get people a place to stay that is not on the streets. Sotelo recently talked with a person who was doing well.

“When I first saw him he was not in a good place,” explained Sotelo. Through the community court this person was able to get back on track. Sotelo asked him what led to the success. He said: “they found me a place to live.’”

“If you got a place to live you got a great foundation to get a little stability,” Sotelo said of the long term goal of some of the most difficult cases he works on. “It really hits home..and I believe that [housing] is the key issue for these folks.”

Our Town Reno Reporting and Photo by Richard Bednarski

Compassion and Empathy Drive Local Reverend to Help the Unhoused

“I just have a passion for making the world a better place and I think that we do that out of our deepening spirituality,” said Karen Foster, the reverend at south Reno’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada. She has been the reverend there for almost four years. She believes that as humans deepen their spirituality it causes us to become more caring towards other people. 

She has a knack for leadership and through her teachings, hopes to encourage all people to come together and help one another out, particularly when it comes to the unhoused crisis.

She said it is great that there are efforts being made to look at the issues surrounding homelessness, such as the establishment of the CARES Campus, located downtown on east Fourth Street. “But warehousing folks is not the answer,” Foster said.

“While we hope to see more progress on this issue, it’s hard to say whether that’s really a step in the right direction or not,” explained Foster as her shoes squeaked on the polished floor of her church, echoing in the large room. As winter approaches many are concerned the CARES Campus and safe camp are not adequately prepared for the bitter cold and stormy season. 

“I mean we have to get folks off the streets, it’s a life threatening issue to have folks on the streets,” said Foster. She believes having overflow and emergency shelters as was the case previously were better during the colder months. When the pandemic first locked down society, the City of Reno opened up the Reno Events Center for the unhoused community as an emergency shelter to help maintain social distance and increase capacity, but that program was then disbanded. 

Reverend Karen Foster advocates for more programs such as HopeSprings run by Northern Nevada Hopes.

“Really what we need to be doing more of is something like the model of Northern Nevada Hopes has developed with the tiny house neighborhood,” said Foster. These transitional homes (previous Our Town Reno article here: http://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2020/10/15/hopesprings-a-new-bridge-housing-project-still-faces-financial-hurdles-to-open) allow people to take the initial step from living on the streets to secure housing and build a renting history. In turn, this history will enable people to get stable housing down the road. “Folks are allowed their own private spaces, they also have a way to be community and they have just an incredible amount of resources,” explained Foster, who recently toured the facility, which is a stones throw away from the CARES Campus.  

People who want to stay there have to make a commitment to improving their situation. Social workers and medical care is provided through the program to help with addressing the issues that affect the unhoused, such as mental health, addiction, and poor nutrition. 

“If we can expand on that model in a dramatic kind of way, that is a much, much better solution than warehousing,” said Foster.  

Affordable housing is another part of the equation that Foster believes needs to be addressed. As more and more developers build tracts of luxury housing, and lower end housing is destroyed, the lower income communities of Reno become one step closer to becoming homeless. 

“Reno has for too long allowed developers to have complete free reign,” Foster said. She has seen developers come in from out of town, develop a tract of luxury housing and “the money flows outward from the community in many, many cases.”

Foster believes this city council and county commissioners need to be much more forward thinking and look to successful examples around the country. “When a development proposal is made, it has to include either funding for low income housing or low income housing as a part of the project,” explained Foster. She firmly believes this has to happen with every new development and that if a stipulation like this was in place ten or fifteen years ago, there would not be an extreme shortage of affordable housing. 

Foster’s work goes beyond her fellowship. She is also part of the group The Reno Posse. This group serves well over a hundred meals every week. The food they prepare is high quality, nutrient dense meals that often become more than one meal per person. “The city used to provide locations for us to do meal service,” said Foster. “That’s been taken away.” This wrench in the plan has not stopped the Posse from getting food to our neighbors in need. “They know how to be visible and how to help us find them”

“It’s very important to us, with our spiritual values, that we’re part of creating sustenance for people who are on the streets,” said Foster. Whether these people are on the streets because of choice, situations with poverty, Foster does not judge and remains compassionate and empathetic towards the unhoused. She stays involved with the community and has a regular habit of attending city council and school board meetings. 

“Our folks in general are very visible in the community, trying to make a difference, trying to lift our voices, trying to live our values to make our community a better place for everybody, not just the one percent who are privileged and virtually untouched by many of the issues that are impacting our community,” explained Foster. Her focus is to remain engaged and push for corrections in the system that keep people poor and in the streets. 

Foster knows this work is exhausting and challenging. She remains vigilant and uses burnout as a guide post to keep her efforts focused. She tries to get out hiking to reset herself and get enough rest. She views these little steps as part of a daily process that helps maintain her mental health. “To be able to do it in the long haul, part of our call is to take care of ourselves,” she explained. 

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada is a unique church in that it does not cater to a single denomination. Foster said there are Atheists, Buddhists, and Jews who all attend, seeking to enhance their individual spirituality. This individualized focus allows everyone “to live together in community and learn from each other,” Foster explained. This deepens and expands the individual's spiritual journey, something Foster believes is paramount to building a stronger and less divisive community. 

“I think the real care for spiritual people is to be engaged,” said Foster. “To be engaged with the community and make a difference in every way we can. We’re at a crisis point...we need everybody stepping up and trying to make a difference.” 

Our Town Reporting by Richard Bednarski

Susan Chandler, Taking Part in a Third Act for the Next Generations

Susan Chandler, 78, a former UNR professor at the School of Social Work, who took part in protests against the war in Vietnam and the civil rights movement, is back at it again, speaking out against corporations such as JPMorgan Chase funding coal, oil and gas firms. With hundreds of billions of dollars invested, the bank has been the world’s top funder of the fossil fuel industry for each of the past five years, and its Reno branch was the site of a recent intergenerational climate change protest. 

“Chase bank and banks like Chase, they just keep feeding resources into fossil fuel industries. We want to draw a clear line about the banks. And so stop it, stop it. We don't want to support a bank that is killing the world,” Chandler said.

“If we come together, we can help,” Chandler told Our Town Reno after making a speech to those gathered outside the downtown Reno Chase location. “I mean the youth have been doing so much and Indigenous people have been doing so much. We can stand behind them. And we also can make, as [former civil rights activist and U.S Representative] John Lewis would say good trouble of our own too.”

Chandler recently wrote an op-ed with her grandson Liam Chandler-Isacksen, 15, called “A grandson and grandmother talk climate action.” She is also part of a new organization called Third Act, for people over the age of 60, launched by environmentalist Bill McKibben.

“I mean, our earth is in serious, serious danger for me personally,” Chandler said of her involvement and the importance of fighting for the next generations as well. “I have five grandchildren. During the fire season this year, it was like looking out on the apocalypse. I couldn't stand what was going to be there for my grandchildren. I mean, you know, will they have children? I mean, will the earth be here in a livable way?”

What about our elected officials, we asked?  “They do things, but they're not anywhere near enough,” Chandler responded.  “We need a Marshall plan, a bigger than a Marshall plan. Now you might not remember the Marshall plan. The Marshall plan is what went into effect after World War Two, to help Germany [and Europe] get back on its feet and see huge input resources. And the idea that if you really pour resources into this, into a situation that you can change things and we could change things.” 

She believes more people could and should join the movement to save our planet.

“I believe that people really love their children and love this land. We live on this incredibly rich and beautiful piece of land here and want it to be there for the future generations. I just know that people believe that,” she said concluding our interview.

Reporting by Gracie Gordon for Our Town Reno

Staffing Shortages, Lack of Safety, Blankets and Flooded Safe Camp at Cares Campus Dominate Homelessness Advisory Board

Lack of staff at the Cares Campus, repeated calls to 911 from the compound and flooded tents during the recent “atmospheric river” at the safe camp were some of the issues the Community Homelessness Advisory Board heard about this morning under new Washoe County leadership, after several months of the meeting being skipped over.

“I think it would be generous to say there’s half of the staff that’s currently needed,” John DeCarmine said of the Cares Campus. The executive director of the Grace compound in Florida has repeatedly been brought on as an outside consultant, praised by both advocates and local leaders. DeCarmine said they were so short staffed at the compound they were simply “putting out fires.” He called for better pay, training and leadership sessions.

Neoma Jardon, a Reno councilwoman, and formerly the chair of the board, called his latest analysis “candid information.” She asked about recently allocated $400,000 to attract or retain staff, but at that point of the meeting no one from operator Volunteers of America was present, to which Jardon said “that’s a problem.”

Regional Director Pat Cashell showed up later to also address a lack of blankets at the compound, saying these were being sent from Sacramento and also blamed “theft” and people inside the compound being given multiple blankets. “The shelter is so big that I’m not accustomed to,” he said of logistical challenges, also calling for community donations. Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey used the excuse of the compound still “being brand new” and warned of not getting “bogged down” in current problems. Devon Reese bemoaned that “governments are very slow.”

But DeCarmine warned: “At some point the way some of the services are provided now can become the way services are provided from here on out.” The compound has been open over six months with millions and millions of dollars already spent. Advocates have warned of potential problems since its opening, ranging from unhealthy food being served, to a lack of safety more recently.

Dana Searcy, the Special Projects Manager for the Washoe County Manager's Office, said the county is “working to address staffing.” Our Town Reno has been promised a renewed tour of the compound, but it hasn’t happened yet. We also asked to document the day in the life of staff but have not been given an opportunity to do so.

Searcy said the lack of staffing prevents employees from “collecting data and de-escalation,” regretting there have been increased calls to 911 and REMSA from within the compound.

When the head of Karma Box, the safe camp operator, Grant Denton took the podium, he said he had slept in one of the tents during the recent bad weather and that coolers and bikes blocking the flow of water into the safe camp space caused flooding and blankets inside tents to get wet. He said people sleeping at the tents were given new blankets, beanies and socks as well as new tarps. He also said the tents had bad zippers.

Searcy said 50 new $13,725 8ftx8ftx8ft Modpod heated and cooled structures will be arriving by late November, as well as two of these to be experimented with at the main part of the campus. She said Burner tents and even ice fishing tents had been considered.

The meeting concluded with Reese, Jardon and Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson calling for better coordination between volunteer groups and compound operators. That type of system, including having healthy community meals right by the former emergency shelter, which prevailed for years at Record street, were abandoned several years ago due to security issues.

Advocates are also seeking for the old Record Street location to be used to shelter women, with Our Place, run by RISE, often at capacity, and many women not feeling safe at the Cares Campus. Lily Baran called the lack of bad weather preparation a “public health crisis.” Jake Maynard said advocates “are not taken seriously,” and have warned of all the problems now happening. Ilya Arbatman said advocates sometimes felt like they were “screaming into the air.” Several advocates also called for a better process for people at the Cares Campus to address their grievances and for a lived experience committee to sit with CHAB.

Monica DuPea, the founder and director of the Nevada Youth Empowerment Project, pointed to current trends at the at-risk youth non profit the Eddy House and asked whether “it was really operating as an emergency youth shelter? What is the intake criteria? What is the ban and suspension policy? Who is served and who is not served?” Other advocates have also expressed concerns the Eddy House has turned into a “workforce program” rather than an emergency shelter for at-risk youth. Our Town Reno emailed the Eddy House for comment but did not hear back.

Our Town Reno Reporting, November 1, 2021

Amber Torres, Grateful for UNR's New Effort To Return Remains and Cultural Items to Tribal Nations

In late October, the University of Nevada, Reno’s President Brian Sandoval sent out an email with a questionnaire asking deans, chairs and unit heads to “locate any previously unreported Native American Human Remains or Cultural Items” covered by the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, “to initiate the repatriation process.”

In a subsequent interview with Our Town Reno, Amber Torres, the Walker River Paiute Tribe Chairman, reacted positively to this latest breakthrough.

“It is of the utmost importance that we get the ancestral remains returned back to the rightful tribe in which the tribal citizen belonged,” Torres said, adding it is crucial that the remains get returned back to where they came from out of respect and with all the belongings they were exhumed with.

“When they’re unearthed like that,” said Torres “they can’t rest until they’re put back to where they belong.”

She is grateful that the feedback from all the Tribal Nations is not just being listened to right now, but honored and respected. Torres explained over the phone that the process has finally been moving, after years of silence. She also explained many local tribal stakeholders have been involved in the current process to help develop a plan of action that not only upholds respect, but is done in a timely manner. 

The momentum shifted this past summer when UNR President Sandoval met for several hours with tribal leaders, historic preservation officers and representatives from the anthropology department.

“The most disheartening thing is whenever it has something to do with our people or our Nations, it is not being at the table,” said Torres who was present at the summer meeting. “Having respected Tribal Nations at the table has been tremendous.”

The company in charge of the transfer, California-based Cogstone Resource Management, has worked with local tribes in the past and this is something that Torres feels is important as well. When contacted for this report, the company did not immediately provide a comment on their process. 

But in an email to Our Town Reno, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Debra Moddelmog, who has been tasked to coordinate the effort, explained the process goes beyond the survey and repatriation.

 “In addition, the University has recently posted two job announcements for positions that will advance our efforts in regard to consultation and repatriation as well as assist us in developing collaborative partnerships with local Tribes and Tribal organizations. We are searching for a Director of  Community Indigenous Relations and a NAGPRA Liaison and Project Manager,” she wrote. Torres believes this is also a step in the right direction.

Moving further forward, Torres wants the community to learn as much as they can about how her ancestors were possibly dug up on a project for the gain of scientific knowledge. “Those individuals that are placed in the earth at that time are there for a purpose,” she explained. “They were buried in that spot because of a meaning with the family.” She likened it to thinking about having your grandmother or distant relatives dug up and removed from their final resting place and urges everyone to think about the impact this has on everyone involved. 

“You want to make sure you have the same respect and the same ceremony that you would for anybody who expires in today’s age,” Torres said. “It’s a ritual..it’s a showing of respect.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Richard Bednarski

Dale Slingland, Finding a Passion for Art After Growing Up With Cerebral Palsy

Dale Slingland is native born Reno artist who has faced challenges throughout his life. He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy before he was even one year old. Growing up, he realized he wanted to find a way to be independent in a judgement free setting where he could focus on his own things.

“I enjoy having the ability to communicate and connect to people and the greater world  through a visual language that will last far into the future,” Dale said of how he got into oil paintings during a recent interview with Our Town Reno.

Dale’s dream project is to work on a mural in the city of Seattle, Washington, where his brother lives. He’s also being featured in an upcoming art show called the Devil Made Me Do It which is happening at Pitch Black Printing Co. on October 29 at 6 p.m. Soon Dale will also be on the board of the Sierra Arts Foundation.

He’s also passed on his creative genes to his eleven year old son Wyatt. Wyatt sketched out a design for a mural creation contest at a local Coral Academy school and won. So Wyatt’s idea will come to life within the school's walls. 

“The theme for his mural is kindness. He chose a heart and the words equality that arches across it. Along with colorful shapes and delicious treats to share is the way he chose to depict the theme,” Dale said. 

Dale says he is inspired in his own work by nature and places like Lake Tahoe and Lake Pyramid. With his artwork Dale likes to challenge himself. He once received a critique on a piece he created involving a painting of hands. After the critique he decided to create a whole series based on hands to not only challenge himself but to also improve his skills. He wants his art to be unique and wants to be both mentally and physically involved in the process. 

Dale thinks the Reno art community has a solid foundation but believes there is always room for improvement. Dale appreciates Reno’s new emerging art scene, believing that the major event Burning Man, that happens every summer in Black Rock Desert, contributes to the local art scene. He believes the event brings its influences to the city and gives artists more creative opportunities. Dale himself has been to Burning Man three times in the past and got inspired to create fun costumes for the event. His father was also a costume photographer at Burning Man as well. 

“I love being a part of Reno's art community. It has given me many opportunities to show my art and a chance to have my artistic voice heard and valued. I hope the community will continue to grow more vibrant and even more diverse in every way,” Dale said.

Dale’s advice to upcoming artists is to keep going, to be reliable and to develop a large body of work.

“Having a lot of work is advantageous in three ways, the first is that it gives you a good knowledge base on your chosen medium. The second is that creating lots of work helps you find your artistic voice and gives you freedom to find the genre of art you like. The third is that you will be ready for a variety of opportunities and art shows. Reliability is equal to or even more important than the quality of your work. Having your art framed and ready to hang by a deadline of the event will open up more opportunities, just because you showed up on time,” Dale said as we concluded our interview.

Reporting by Carley Olson for Our Town Reno