The James Morehouse Project (JMP)
works to create positive changes in the El Cerrito High School community through health services, counseling, academic support and the arts. Founded in 1999, the James Morehouse Project assumes youth have the skills, values and commitments to make positive change happen in their own lives and the life of our school community. The James Morehouse Project partners with community and government agencies, local providers and universities.
The JMP:
In Their Own Words
Creating Belonging
for Young People
OUR HISTORY
Where We Started:
1998
In 1998, teachers, parents, students and community service providers came together to respond to the absence of any support services for students and their families at El Cerrito High School (ECHS). We committed to establishing a school based health center to support students to meet the challenges in their lives and be successful in school. In 1999 our health center first opened under the name: ECHS Community Project. In January 2010, after moving into our new health center in the new ECHS school building, we changed our name to the James Morehouse Project. We took James Morehouse's name to honor his 35 years of service to the El Cerrito High School community. Mr. Morehouse loved, mentored and inspired two generations of staff and students (from 1968-2003) and in taking on his name, we commit to carrying on his legacy of love, respect and service for generations to come.
Since then, the ECHS James Morehouse Project has grown to include almost a dozen partnerships with community agencies and universities, such as:
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Bay Area Community Resources
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CA School Health Alliance
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California State University East Bay, Department of Social Work
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Community Violence Solutions
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Contra Costa County Health Services
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RYSE Center
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San Francisco State University, School of Social Work
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Smith College, School for Social Work
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STAND! for Families Free of Violence
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St. Mary’s College of California, Counseling Department
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University of California at Berkeley, School of Social Welfare
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The Wright Institute, Counseling Psychology Program
How We Grew
The use of the word "project" in our name refers to the perspective that we are a work in progress; that everyone who's a part of the project is an important participant in the ongoing development/creation of what we are, how we work and what we offer to the ECHS community.
A Work In Progress
In January 2010, after 10 years as the ECHS Community Project, we changed our name to the James Morehouse Project.
We took James Morehouse’s name to honor his 35 years of service to the El Cerrito High School community. Mr. Morehouse loved, mentored and inspired two generations of staff and students (from 1968-2003).
Mr. James Morehouse began working in the Richmond Unified School District in 1963. In 1968 he came to El Cerrito High School as a site supervisor and then became the Audio-Visual Coordinator until his retirement in 2000. While Mr. Morehouse gave his fullest to each of these jobs, these formal titles fall short in describing the effect his generous spirit and wisdom had on those with whom he interacted. Mr. Morehouse mentored generations of students, teachers and administrators. He continues to be an inspiration to us. In our work with students, the James Morehouse Project strives to embody the values of respect and love that Mr. Morehouse modeled and shared at ECHS day-in-and-day-out for almost 40 years.
Mr. Morehouse passed away in April, 2010. We are committed to carrying on his legacy of love, respect and service for generations to come.
Excerpts from a Community Project interview with Mr. Morehouse from the spring of 2008:
"God gave me a chance to do this life all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I loved getting up every morning and coming to school–helping teachers, helping students. Our job is to get to know young people and to understand them. You have to get to know each personality. You have to work as hard at that as anything else."
"We solved so many problems by calming things down and talking. You show respect and people will give you respect back. When students get angry I know they’re not angry with me. They’re angry with a situation in their own life. When we respond to their anger with our own anger that doesn’t help anyone. We set an example for our students."