The Recreation Department would like to highlight one of our amazing instructors, Alessandra Flores! Alessandra is CEO and Founder of Sol Realm Yoga and taught our Girls Empowerment Yoga class for teens this past spring. She has a recreation background as a former recreation specialist with the Montgomery County Recreation Department and recently pursued her passion for interior design while focusing on creating a variety of yoga classes for youth. Please take a few moments to get to know Ms. Alessandra Flores.

Where does your passion for yoga come from?

I found my passion for yoga in a hopeless place. I found and understood the meaning of yoga during the pandemic when everything felt dark, and the world felt like it suddenly stopped. I discovered a new meaning of self-confidence, awareness, and self-love. As a certified Teen Life Coach and Youth Advocate, I now use yoga to help empower teens with self-confidence, increase mental awareness, and encourage ambition and goal setting.

Why is it important for young people to have access to yoga?

Many consider yoga to be a fitness program that requires you to be flexible and able to bend in difficult positions. Yoga is beyond flexibility! Yoga and other wellness programs are important for youth because they help develop body awareness, manage stress through breathing, meditation, and movement, build concentration, increase confidence and positive self-image, and allow youth to feel a part of a group.

What do you hope participants will take away from your class?

I hope participants learn to be patient with themselves, remembering to breathe in through their bellies and out through their noses or mouths, relaxing their shoulders with every breath. Breathing through certain situations can change the outcome!

How do you know when you’ve had a successful class?

Some determine success based on the number of participants you receive in your program. Others determine success based on the emotional, physical, and mental changes you begin to see with your students. When parents and teachers approach me with how they’ve noticed a positive change in their students, that lets me know I am reaching them, and they trust me. Ultimately my goal is for all my participants to feel better about themselves in whatever capacity they came to the program with.

What other hobbies or interests do you have?

I love reading, playing and coaching basketball, hiking, and gardening.

This article was featured in the July 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

If a Takoma Park Police officer catches your children in the act this summer, they might just get a “ticket.”

The Takoma Park Police Department is proud to again partner with 7-Eleven in its “Operation Chill” program, which aims to reduce crime and build rapport between kids and law enforcement. “Operation Chill” is a great way of teaching the importance of making good decisions, being kind, and doing the right thing.

School’s out for summer and kids in Takoma Park may actually look forward to their next encounter with the “heat” this summer thanks to 7-Eleven stores’ popular “Operation Chill” program that rewards positive behavior with a very cool treat. Through “Operation Chill,” Takoma Park Police patrol officers can “ticket” youngsters caught in the act of doing good with Slurpee beverage coupons. Appropriate “offenses” might include helping another person, deterring crime, practicing safety (wearing a helmet during bike riding), participating in a positive activity in the community, or just for having a pleasant conversation with an officer. Each coupon can be redeemed for a small Slurpee drink at participating 7-Eleven stores. The coupons are great for officers who are on patrol in the community. It’s an icebreaker, a way to encourage dialogue in a non-threatening, non-law enforcement situation.

Since its inception in 1995, “Operation Chill” has grown to include several hundred law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada each year, and more than twelve million coupons have been distributed to officers on the beat in cities and towns where 7-Eleven does business.

“Operation Chill” was developed by 7-Eleven Inc. to positively reward and encourage good behavior by kids during the hot summer months, when communities may experience increases in loitering, shoplifting, and graffiti, and to support law enforcement agencies’ community relations projects. The Takoma Park Police Department will use the “Operation Chill” program to reward youth for their good deeds as well as to enhance their relations with the young people of their city.

So be on your best behavior this summer. Our officers will be patrolling parks, community events, and other areas around the City, looking to hand out these free treats!

This article was featured in the July 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

The summer selection for discussion in July is Rhode Island Red by Charlotte Carter. We will meet on Wednesday, July 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hydrangea Room of the Community Center. We’ll also have a Zoom link for those who want to meet online. For more information, email ftpmlbookgroup@gmail.com.

Rhode Island Red introduces us to busker Nanette Hayes, an African American jazz saxophonist. When Nan awakes one morning to find a fellow busker dead on her kitchen floor, the mystery begins. It draws the reluctant Nan to search for a legendary and priceless saxophone that many would kill to possess.

Charlotte Carter originally wrote the Nanette Hayes series in the 1990s. Rhode Island Red and two other novels from the series were republished last year. The series is unique for its Black heroine and its depiction of race, class, and sexism.

While Rhode Island Red may reflect the 1990s, critics have written that the Nanette Hayes series has the timelessness of other great mystery series and their heroes. Nan is, “as much Marlow as she is the women who tempt him,” wrote Caitlin Landuyt in CrimeReads. “She’s cool under pressure and she always gets her man. Plus, she can belly up to the bar with the best. As a result, these books feel as fresh and new as they do classically rewarding.”

Rhode Island Red is available to borrow from the library and is available on Hoopla as an e-book.

This article was featured in the July 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

Many City of Takoma Park employees perform important work every day that goes unheralded and unsung, but the City would grind to a halt without them.

Local artist Renee Lachman will be honoring City employees in a new series of paintings and charcoal drawings, including sanitation workers, gardeners, crossing guards, and library staff. A free opening reception for the Unsung Heroes exhibition will be held on July 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Takoma Park Community Center at 7500 Maple Avenue. “These sanitation workers remind me of Olympic athletes with all their running and lifting of heavy trash, old furniture, yard waste, and broken tree limbs through all kinds of weather,” Lachman said. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve celebrated the work of doctors, nurses, and firefighters. I wanted to highlight Takoma Park’s other unsung heroes.”

Lachman said books from library staff “provided a lifeline during the pandemic” while crossing guards “cheerfully help our children, parents, and residents cross busy streets safely.” Gardeners maintain seven acres of garden plots along with planting, weeding, and cutting grass on city property.

The City’s Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith organized a public art grant to support the project, and several pieces from the series will become part of the City’s permanent art
collection after the exhibition.

“Renee proposed this idea to feature City employees, and we’re very excited about it,” Smith said. “Many City employees often are underappreciated, so this is a great opportunity to feature them and
their contributions to community life in Takoma Park.”

Lachman has lived in Takoma Park for more than 25 years. She received another City public art grant to paint mural panels that will be installed at the Hillwood Manor Community Garden. She also was the City’s first recycling artist in residence in 2012 at the Public Works Department where she created assemblages with recycled materials.

Lachman received an MFA in painting from George Washington University and a BFA in painting and drawing from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. You can see more of her work at
reneelachman.com.

This article was featured in the July 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

Passport Services are available by appointment only Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Takoma Park Community Center on the second floor. Appointments are required and can be scheduled by calling 301-891-7100. Passport service hours are subject to change without notice. Whenever possible, office closures will be announced on Facebook, Twitter, and the City’s website.

Please note the following:

• The City of Takoma Park does not process the DS-82 Renewal Application, which is a mail-in only Application.
• All forms must be written clearly with no mark outs, scratch outs, etc.
• Do not sign your forms before you meet with the Passport Agent.
• The City of Takoma Park has no control over passport processing times.

For additional information, visit takomaparkmd.gov/services/passports. Questions? Email sofiav@takomaparkmd.gov.

This article was featured in the June 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

Starting June 13, the SummerQuest reading program kicks off! SummerQuest is an interactive reading game for all ages from read-to-me to adulthood. Players can pick up a character and game board from the front desk staff. To move through the story, you read a different kind of book for each section of the game board (adventure, poetry, different cultures, etc.).

This summer’s theme is Modern Mythology. In ancient days, people told stories of powerful beings in control of natural forces. Zeus and Thor were said to be the lords of Thunder; Poseidon was in charge of the Sea; Loki the master of Trickery and Magic. But what beings might be in charge of modern forces? Satellites and advertising and traffic may have incarnations that assist or trouble us. Find them!

This article was featured in the June 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.

Camps are a vital need for all youth. It is a great opportunity to create spaces for youth to be outdoors, active, and socializing. This environment allows a sense of community to develop amongst the camp participants. At a time when most social interactions are more geared towards health and safety precautions, camp offers the freedom to be creative and imaginative and to have fun. After the rollercoaster of the last several years, the idea of being out of the house, active and around new people is thrilling and exciting. Summer is quickly sneaking up on us, and if you haven’t made any summer plans yet, it’s time to act!

Takoma Park Recreation Department Camps are now proudly licensed by the Maryland Department of Health, and we are offering a multitude of options for youth in the community. Eight weeks of general camps; Camp Takoma and New Ave Adventure Camp for children ages 6–12. Just Teens is offered for four weeks in July for youth in grades 6–12. In addition to these general camps, we have brought back specialty camps for the first time since 2019. There are three weeks of Visual Arts Camp and two sessions of Dance Camp.

Interest in summer activities has greatly increased, and with registration open since Spring, several of our programs have filled up. Space is limited, so be sure to register today! If you have any questions regarding programs and classes, please contact us at recreation@takomparkmd.gov or 301-891-7290.

This article was featured in the June 2022 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see full list of past newsletters.