California

Sharing loss in Jordan Downs

Sydnia McMillan, a retired elementary school principal, is among a large group of teachers and outreach workers who have taken on Jordan Downs as part of a campaign to transform the Watts project from a long-standing hub of violence and poverty into a safe and appealing community that can draw more prosperous residents.

Sydnia McMillan, a retired elementary school principal, is among a large group of teachers and outreach workers who have taken on Jordan Downs as part of a campaign to transform the Watts project from a long-standing hub of violence and poverty into a safe and appealing community that can draw more prosperous residents.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Share

Sydnia McMillan inhabited a different world from the mothers of Jordan Downs she’d been hired to advise on parenting. How could she hope to help them? Then she realized she shared at least one thing with these women: a terrible loss.
Read more: Class on parenting becomes a journey through loss, grief and hope

Veronica Hale

Veronica Hale, a resident of Jordan Downs, gently wipes her daughter’s eyes after sand blew in them while she was playing. Hale attends a women’s class taught by Sydnia McMillan at the Jordan Downs Community Center.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Jamie Drear

Jamie Drear looks over bills and letters with her daughter Krystal Jones in Drear’s one-bedroom apartment in Jordan Downs. Drear has been unemployed and living in the housing project for the last three years.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Jamie Drear

Jamie Drear lost her job in 2010 and has been unemployed since then. She moved into the Jordan Downs housing project the same year and has been utilizing the classes offered at the community center to help her regain her footing.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Jamie Drear and Yasmine Phillips

Jamie Drear walks niece Yasmine Phillips, 7, to elementary school. Drear walks her three nieces to school every day and has enrolled them in classes at the Jordan Downs Community Center.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Marlaena Arhwin

Marlaena Arhwin, 18, stands in the doorway of aunt Jamie Drear’s kitchen. Arhwin, still in high school, attends after-school programs at Jordan Downs Community Center.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

Krystal Jones

Krystal Jones switches between checking her phone and napping as warm sunlight streams into mother Jamie Drear’s kitchen. Jones, like her mother, has attended classes at Jordan Downs Community Center for vocational training in hopes of getting a job.   (Bethany Mollenkof / Los Angeles Times)

California

More From the Los Angeles Times