"A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs, and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk"
About this Quote
The second move is pragmatic humility. “We’ve tried different programs” admits experimentation and failure without dramatizing it. Then comes a blunt metric of success: “three have worked really well.” It’s community organizing language, not publicity language. The subtext is a quiet rebuke to performative charity that values visibility over outcomes. If something doesn’t work, you change it. If it does, you keep showing up.
The specifics do the rest. A “poetry group” signals an investment in voice, not just services - art as infrastructure, expression as a form of survival. Then the sentence narrows from Santa Monica’s affluent sheen to “Venice High” and “girls at risk,” a reminder that geographic proximity doesn’t equal shared security. “Once a week” is the key phrase: consistency over rescue fantasy. The intent isn’t to be inspirational; it’s to normalize care as routine, local, and unfinished work.
Quote Details
| Topic | Poetry |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bonet, Lisa. (2026, January 15). A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs, and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-group-of-us-started-a-community-center-in-santa-169553/
Chicago Style
Bonet, Lisa. "A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs, and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-group-of-us-started-a-community-center-in-santa-169553/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs, and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/a-group-of-us-started-a-community-center-in-santa-169553/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.


