First recipient of San Diego Black Homebuyers Program settles into new home

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A grant program is closing the racial wealth gap through home buyer's assistance.

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The program we've created the vehicle. Now we just need to, uh, to be able to provide more

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I'm Jade Hindman. This is KPBS midday edition. What people can expect for Comicons in-person convention.

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The size of the convention is going to be about half in terms of about 60,000 attendees

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And a look at the holiday art scene for your weekend preview that's ahead on midday edition Here in San Diego, the cost of homes has risen dramatically over the past few years, but it hasn't climbed equally. Now there's a new grant program that aims to help close the racial wealth gap and KPBS race and equity reporter. Christina Kim caught up with the first recipient,

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Careful on the step. The first one,

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TaShawn cook has big plans for his newly purchased two bedroom, two bathroom condo in spring,

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I'm in the middle of renovating everything. So the whole kitchen is going to get completely moved and destroyed. So the kitchen is actually going to come all the way out against this whole yellow wall, which is why it's not painted

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The 20 three-year-old old is confident in his vision for his new home. Right now, his room is one of the few spots he's fully furnished and decorated with some of his favorite anime art, but he wants a more modern kitchen. And he's working with his dad to remove the carpet and replace it with new flooring

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Probably once a week, if not once every other week, definitely going to home Depot. As he said, now, it's something that obviously beforehand I wasn't thinking about, but happens. I mean, again, I'm in the process of renovating so consistent. When if, if I'm not going to home Depot, I'm ordering things on Amazon

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Cook as an SDSU college student and Navy reservist. In addition to working full time as a calibration technician. Now that he's also a homeowner, it puts him among a very small group of black San Diegans only around a quarter of all black people in San Diego city own a home. Meanwhile, more than half of all white and Asian San Diegans are homeowners. And the home ownership rate for black people is even lower in places near spring valley, like Lamesa and alcohol that's according to a newly released study by the urban Institute, a nonprofit research organization focused on economic policies.

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So the total amount of housing wealth held by white households is $129 billion for black homeowners. It's uh, less than 5 billion.

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Michael Neil was the lead researcher on the urban Institute study. He says, San Diego doesn't just have a racial gap in home ownership, but in home values as well,

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Homeowners on average, their home value is $610,000. I'm about a third, less than the average value of a white mono.

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Neil says historic housing and employment discrimination, coupled with long-standing wage gaps and rising housing costs are at the heart of these persisting inequities. It's why a group of nonprofits and San Diego county supervisor Nathan Fletcher's office launched the San Diego black home buyers program. Last August. The goal to expand more economic opportunities for black San Diegans like cook, who was the first recipient of the program. And as supervisor Nathan Fletcher first set at the launch to try and level the playing field.

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We have such an obligation to ensure access to the American dream. There is no guarantee of equality of outcome, but there is supposed to be equality of access.

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Now that the program is set up, it needs to expand and help more families says Rick out of the Flores, he's the executive director of LISC, the organization that administers the programs funds

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We've created the program we've created the vehicle, got mortgages attached to it. Now we just need to, uh, to be able to provide

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More cases that can happen without too big of an investment.

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And the great thing is, so for a million dollars, you can get 25 families home ownership opportunities, which is obviously going to change their lives. Indefinitely.

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Jesus is like the living room area, dining room here,

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And that's something that's already happening for cook. He used the nearly $50,000 grant to pay his closing costs. Now he's using the money. He saved to add value and equity back into his home. He hopes his condo will jumpstart his ability to build wealth and take care of the generations to come.

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Oh, I know is that I wanted to give my children a better childhood. Not that mine was bad. Um, but in order for me to do that, one of the things I want to be able to do is never tell my children no, because of money ever. Like if I tell him no it's going to be because I said, no, not because, oh my account's telling me now, you know,

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Now he's enjoying his home scenic views of pink sunsets, and he's already planning on having his siblings visit and stay with him. Something that wasn't possible until just last month. Could he see that Kim K PBS news

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Comic-Con has canceled two in-person shows because of the pandemic, but today it returns to in-person events with what it is calling Comecon special edition here to discuss what to expect from this version of the pop culture. Convention is KPBS, PBS arts and culture reporter Beth Armando. Hey Beth, Hey, how's it going? Good. So what can people expect from this Comic-Con special edition? Well, for one thing, we're not exactly sure,

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But the things we do know is that there's not going to be a hall H except to register people for their badges. The size of the convention is going to be about half in terms of about 60,000 attendees. And there's not going to be any big Hollywood studios or big comics publishers on hand to hold panels or have booths on the main floor.

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And are you excited about this special edition show?

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I am because I'm looking forward to what may hopefully be a little bit more like the convention of 15 years ago, where the exhibit floor was easier to maneuver around where you could get, um, get to more panels. I'm hoping that it might be a little more relaxing atmosphere and more time to really walk the exhibit floor and see everything. Also, I'm excited about the fact that the comic con museum will be reopening. Now they're very clear about saying this is a soft open and the museum is not completely remodeled or fully ready to go, but it will be open for people to go in and look around and see a couple of exhibits.

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So what familiar things will be there?

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Well, there are going to be quite a few familiar things. You'll have guests that you've seen almost every year. People like Scott Shaw and Kevin Eastman and William Stout, they'll still be a masquerade of sorts. There's still going to be the dealer's room with artist's alley and the small press well-represented, they're still gonna be panels, but just not with the same kind of celebrity draw or big brands represented. And as usual, there will be a focus on pop culture and its impact, including panels on the significance of the recent Marvel film Cianci and another one called cultural appreciation, not appropriation.

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Very interesting. And, and you will be on a couple of panels this year. What are they?

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Yeah, I'm going to be joining one panel called star wars samurai universe on Saturday morning where the panelists will discuss the influence of Japanese and samurai culture on star wars, beginning with the influence of a Cura Curacao is hidden fortress on George Lucas and I'm moderating a panel on Saturday afternoon about a new video game coming from Mexico called Michelin. And it's an open-world video game, showcasing the untold mythical tales of ancient Mexico. And I spoke with environment, concept artists, Jose [inaudible] about the game and what to expect from the panel.

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So one of the things that we want to, we want to share with people and what we will be showing at the panel is, is the process. Cause a lot of people that play video games might not be aware of what the process is when, when a video games gets created, you basically just get the final product. Maybe you get a trailer and some gameplay while the game is being produced, but that's about it. You only see all the backstory after it's released in this case, we're doing it differently. We're showing you the process. You're, you're riding along with us. So you're seeing how we're developing things, why we're creating things. And that's what we want to showcase on the panel as well. Like show a little bit of the process, what we do, uh, you'll get, uh, first, first look, I think for D uh, for the game play and we're releasing a trailer these weeks. So it should be super exciting.

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And the panel sounds so fascinating. Are there any other interesting panels you'd suggest listeners attend?

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I have to say, I am curious about one called the science of fast and the furious, since that film series completely throws physics out the window, and I'm looking forward to comic con special guest John Jennings. Who's been a guest on my cinema junkie podcast, and I'm also eager to hear the behind the scenes Eisner award panel, which will reveal what the very lively process of picking Eisner winners is all about. Plus for anyone who might have missed the screening of lumpia at the San Diego Asian film festival, there is going to be a screening of lumpia with a vengeance. And I talked to its director, Patricia Jenessa.

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I'm a big comic con goer for so many years and the organizers love the film. And it, it just really speaks to really the, the core of our audience, right? It's not, even though it's a Filipino American action comedy, it really speaks to two nerds and geeks because it has that comic book and B we've talked about all these different comic book tropes. So, um, in a way we're expanding our audiences. I think, I think comic con is literally the audience that we've always wanted to attract. And, uh, this is our big opportunity. I haven't been literally having to wrap my head around what's happening this this week.

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And, you know, as we mentioned, the last two shows were canceled because of the pandemic, but there were online Comecon events each year. Will there be any online elements this year?

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As far as I know, there's not going to be any kind of virtual or online Comic-Con panels or events. I think everybody is just so excited to be back in person that the real focus of this show is on the in-person event. I do know that the virtual comic con the Comicon at home was very successful. And I think as Comic-Con moves forward with its regular full summer convention, they might have online elements to that show and, you know, allow people an opportunity to kind of get access to comic con from anywhere in the world. But for this one, I think the focus is on we're back in person, and it's going to be great to actually see people.

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Yes, indeed. I'm sure it will be. And Beth, is there any way people can follow you through your Comicon journey?

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Yeah, I will be covering it on social media. I'm at Cinnabon on Instagram and Twitter. And you can also check out my preview of comic con special edition at kpbs.org/cinema junkie. I

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Vince speaking with KPBS arts and culture reporter Beth Amando Beth. Thanks so much.

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Thank you.

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You're listening to KPBS mid-day edition. I'm Jade. Hindman this weekend in the arts. You can lose yourself in contemporary art electro-acoustic music and Palestinian poetry. Plus we have a few San Diego style Christmas plays to get your seasonal festivities. Rolling. Joining me with all the details is KPBS PBS arts editor and producer Julia Dickson Evans. Julia. Welcome.

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Hi Jane. Thanks for having me. So

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First, the San Diego museum of art recently reopened a collection of American photography. Tell us about this show.

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This is masters of photography, the garner collection, and I saw it this last weekend. There are multiple rooms here. They're all arranged the medically with dozens and dozens of work. So photography all from the 20th century through the present. And these are all on loan from local collectors cam and Wanda garner cam garner even has worked in the exhibition too. In some of the works that stood out to me are ones from Ansell Adams. There's Brett Western minor, white Berenice Abbott Walker, Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Flor Garduno. And this weekend SCMS hours are 10 to five today and Saturday, and then 12 to five on Sunday. It's really worth, uh, walking around this one.

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All right. Masters of photography. The Gardner collection is on view at the San Diego museum of art. Now through February 21st on Monday, the musical organization project blank presents an evening of electro-acoustic music. Tell us about that.

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So electro-acoustic is a style of music where electronic and experimental devices and structures are, are used to kind of manipulate acoustic or other instruments to really transform the sound. It can be weird and it can also be really beautiful and disruptive. It kind of makes you question what music is or what it's meant to do. And project blank is finally back to live in person audiences after what's really been an impressive digital couple of seasons for them. So this will be Monday night at bread and salt, and it's just five bucks. There are performances from Pablo Dodaro, Nathan Hubbard, John jolly, and Francisco ma whose album treatise on violence came out earlier this year. And we're listening to a track on the album called time, which also features found noise and Monica Camacho on vocals

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That's Francisco and may who will perform at project blanks electro-acoustic and bread and salt Monday at seven 30. There's an evening of Palestinian letters at the San Diego central library on Monday evening. What do you know about?

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Yeah, it's called Scheibach and it's actually a part of the rebellious miss breed program from the library, which also includes this big exhibition about the Japanese American incarceration focuses on how librarian Clara breed advocated for incarcerated people during the war. And this particular show, this performance is curated by Rebecca Ramani and features Palestinian Americans reading texts from Palestinians in Gaza. So there's letters, personal narratives and poetry, including the work of Mahmoud Darwish. They'll also be music, notably Farhad, Bahrami of doorknob collective. This is free, but it is limited seating and you have to register in advance and be sure to get there early so that you can check out the full exhibition in the library gallery

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As well. And Shabaka and evening of Palestinian letters takes place Monday at 6:30 PM. Now let's shift gears to some seasonal offerings like a new Christmas musical at new village arts. Tell us about 1222 ocean front, a black family. Christmas.

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Yeah, this is San Diego playwright. Dear Hurston's brand new holiday musical. And this was the brainchild of Hurston along with Kevin Blacksburg bros and Milena sellers. Phillips Phillips is also the main character. And also she read the lyrics and the score is by John mark. McGaha it's already on stage with plenty of shows this weekend through December 26, that the story is about Dorothy Black that's Phillips, who is a widow and her family, Christmas Eve with her grown children, including the talented deja fields. There's lots of family traditions in some family drama. There's also a note in the program that this one has adult themes. The music is a mixture of re-imagined traditional Christmas carols, and then some new originals too. Here's a little taste.

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The God [inaudible] wake up [inaudible]

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And you can see 1222 ocean front, a black family Christmas at new village arts in Carlsbad tonight at 8:00 PM, Saturday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM. How about the old Globes adaptation of a Christmas Carol, that set right here in San Diego,

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Right? This is Ebeneezer. Scrooges big San Diego Christmas show it's by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen. And yeah, it's literally taken the Dickens story and set it in San Diego at the turn of the 20th century. This is a comedy with music and of course the sort of absurdity of it being set right here in Balboa park and elsewhere in San Diego. But otherwise it really keeps the themes of Dickens. The costume design is by the amazing David Israel Reinoso so it promises to be a really stunning show. I don't want to say something like if you only see one, a Christmas Carol this year, but if you don't really connect to that old fashioned wintry London scene, this one's for you. And there are shows this weekend for your December 26th,

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Catch Ebeneezer. Scrooges big San Diego Christmas show at the old globe tonight at seven and Saturday and Sunday at 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM for details on all these and more arts events and to sign up for Julia's weekly KPBS arts newsletter, go to kpbs.org/arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts, producer and editor, Julian Dixon Evans. Julia. Thanks.

Speaker 10: (18:34)

Thank you, Jade. Have a good weekend. You too.