Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Harry Grammer.
Hi Harry, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
New Earth’s beginnings were a bit unorthodox. Most of our growth has happened organically since the start. In 2002, while homeless and living in a tent on LA beaches, I had the vision for New Earth. My vision was to start an organization that gave my community access to better education, environmental awareness, greater sense of self-expression, and more holistic wellness models.
With a desire to turn my vision into reality, I returned to a more stable life and acquired work and housing. Finding myself back in the day-to-day grind, I put my plans to launch the organization on the back burner. One year later, a dear friend reminded me of the importance of bringing the vision of New Earth to life. In June 2003, a small coffee shop opened in my neighborhood. I thought it would be the perfect location to bring my community together and create a forum where we would share our thoughts and hopes, and get behind the vision for New Earth. Artists, activists, and speakers packed out that coffee house every Monday night.
We created a tight-knit community that would eventually grow to hundreds of people. Each Monday night, I shared the vision for New Earth and from that room, we developed our first board of directors. We then went on to develop our first youth program called F.L.O.W. (Fluent Love of Words). F.L.O.W. is a unique hip-hop and poetry program that helps young people reflect on their lives and develop new perspectives through writing spoken word poetry. In early 2004, we began teaching F.L.O.W. in foster care group homes and quickly added youth prisons by that summer. We’ve now successfully run the F.L.O.W. program in multiple juvenile detention centers for 17 years.
Since those humble beginnings in 2004, we’ve grown exponentially as an organization. In addition to the F.L.O.W. program, we now run a full-service agency in Los Angeles to meet the needs of youth leaving detention and for youth at high risk of going into the juvenile justice system. Our programs include our charter high school in partnership with DaVinci School’s RISE Program, employment readiness and job placement, arts enrichment, advocacy training, counseling, various types of trauma-informed therapies, and wilderness retreats. During our continued growth, I went back to school and earned my Ph.D. in Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara and began building out our Clinical Case Management Department. This has helped to inform all the other various direct-service programs we have today.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The reason why I’m so passionate about working with this population is that my youth mirrors the experiences our young clients have. I spent part of my youth on juvenile probation, and I understand the challenges that probation youth face. I played four sports in high school, lettered in two, and was considered a top athlete. I was ranked high in my county in both football and track. That was a side of me my family was proud of.
We all have parts of our past we are not as proud of. The other side of me was not as impressive. That was the side that wanted to explore and discover what I felt I had been missing. I sought out brotherhood because I didn’t have any brothers at home. I was attracted to people and groups that also felt like they had been dealt the short end of the stick. There was something missing in my life, and I found solace with the kids in my neighborhood that didn’t live by society’s rules, but by their own set of beliefs. Being underprivileged is felt viscerally. I had a natural reaction to it. That reaction was to rebel – to be seen. The friends I kept were those that felt the same. So, we acted out. We committed crimes to defy authority. By the time I was 16 years old, my problems began to stack. I spent five years on juvenile probation, became a teen father, and eventually dropped out of college to work to provide for my family. While I was on probation, I had some close calls with death – the kind of trouble where I found myself on the wrong end of a gun at very close range. I’ll never know if it was luck, or bad aim, or some kind of miracle that allowed me to stay alive. Later, in my mid-20’s, I would experience divorce and homelessness before eventually working to gather my community to create change.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our job is to do whatever we can to show the youth in our care how to believe in themselves and to restore their dignity. To remind them of their worth and how to claim their rightful place in society as worthy citizens. New Earth’s programming is secondary to supporting our students on their journey back to self-love, self-awareness, and self-respect. When these qualities are intact, there’s no need to engage in activities that put your freedom at risk.
New Earth’s programs have a high efficacy rate. Our recidivism rate is 7%. That’s a 93% success rate for stopping kids from returning to youth detention after participating in our programs. Compare that to LA County’s youth recidivism rate of 86%. That means that when they are released from youth detention, they are re-arrested in 2-6 months, due to a lack of community support.
We are staffed with compassionate and competent staff that meet each student in our program where they’re at in their challenging lives. We carry a non-judgment policy. Each teacher, counselor, therapist, instructor, and admin give their heart to making our students feel at home and cared for. We are always welcoming new mentors and volunteers.
How do you think about happiness?
I love spending time with my family. My wife and I have three children together who live at home. Their ages are 15, 8, and 7. We have a very humorous family. Lots of goofing around, loud funny noises, and jokes. One silver lining of the COVID pandemic is how it forced us to slow down and pay more attention to what (and who) is right under our noses. Working from home while practically homeschooling our children for a year was grueling on our minds and bodies; however, our family has never been so close as during lockdown. My work life had been nothing but whirlwinds and earthquakes before stay-at-home orders. While at home together, we played more games, watched more movies…popped more popcorn than ever before. Most of all, I had the opportunity to witness my children’s learning styles. How they each process educational material differently. Noticing this gave me insight into how to listen carefully to their learning needs. I would have never experienced it as intimately if they were in school for eight hours a day and me at work. As a result, we’re closer as a family and having a close-knit family is what makes me most happy.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: newearthlife.org
- Instagram: @grammerharry
- Facebook: @OfficialHarryGrammer
- Twitter: @harrygrammer
