Faces Forward: Celebrating the community leaders, past and present, who have made the Diamond Neighborhoods a better place.

The Diamond Neighborhoods are filled with inspiring stories from the people who call this community home. It’s one of the many reasons why the ?#?DiamondShines?

In
2002, the Community Faces murals in Market Creek Plaza featured residents of Southeastern San Diego’s Diamond Neighborhoods who had made a difference in their community. Among them was community leader and retired educator, Shirley Jackson who spent decades volunteering and engaging residents in voting and social justice issues. Fourteen years later, Aja Project worked with local high school students in the Jacobs Center’s Full STE[+a]M Ahead program to create new murals as part of a digital photography project that provided hands on STEAM learning. In February 2015, the students’ murals replaced the original Community Faces murals in Market Creek Plaza establishing them as the future leaders in their community. One of the students represented in the new murals is Nikayla Jackson, Shirley’s Great Granddaughter. This video celebrates this family and all of the community leaders who have contributed to making the Diamond Neighborhoods a better place.