Voices of Our City Choir

Music has the power to inspire creativity and hope in all people whether they are performing or just listening. Perhaps this explains the mercurial success of San Diego’s Voices of Our City Choir. Beginning with the early days when choir co-creator singer-songwriter Steph Johnson walked the streets offering oranges and a song to unsheltered members of the community, this unique coming together of souls has changed the lives of those who participate as well as those who hear them sing.

Much has been published about the choir’s evolution from initial meetings in a warehouse space in East Village to stardom when they were crowned with the Golden Buzzer award on the 15th season of America’s Got Talent. Johnson was recognized as Woman of the Year in 2018 by then-state Assemblyman Todd Gloria, now San Diego’s mayor. Meanwhile, over 70 of the choir members have been placed in permanent housing. All of this in just the few short, but intense years since the choir’s inception in 2016.

Behind the headlines, however, the VoOCC has been tirelessly advocating for improving the quality of life for choir members while also providing opportunities for volunteers and staff who want to channel their life experiences and professional knowledge into a more targeted, meaningful humanitarian effort.

Cece Jamous, for instance, the directory of Voices of Advocacy, has 30 years experience as an executive assistant to the vice chancellor office for the School of Medicine/Health Sciences, at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography supporting the vice chancellors, the associate vice chancellors, administrative leadership, and academic faculty. These days she is learning to deal with city council advocacy. Another choir member, John Brady, taught her how to comb through the council’s agenda and look for items that directly impact the lives of San Diego’s unsheltered population. “Getting things changed is hard,” she admits, but her background in advocating for children with special needs has given her a framework for how to approach this new mission in her life. “Homelessness is a big machine,” she said. “One of the biggest issues is housing availability and zoning restrictions.”

A key component of VoOCC’s success at placing choir members into housing is the coordinated, often creative, not-so-straight path taken by Jamous, other staff members, and especially the new case manager Enrique Rivera. Rivera is adept at building his own network of partners while facing down what he calls “the other side” of the housing crisis: property management. “You first have to deal with the money side, which is six months worth of rent plus a down payment,” Rivera said, “then when it comes to the agreement with the landlord, and they do a credit check, a background check, a criminal history check, … at the end of the day it (operating rental units) is a business and they want the best return for their investments.” He sees the process in layers, which he addresses patiently but tenaciously one at a time, peeling them away as he zeroes in on the ultimate goal of housing his choir member clients.

Rivera was drawn to the choir by a documentary about them he saw in prison where he was serving a life sentence that began in 1997. While incarcerated he taught himself about the criminal justice system, created self-help groups, helped prepare Spanish-speakers for their parole hearings, and earned a degree in theology, a Business Office Administration certificate, and learned multiple trades. He spent five years preparing for his own parole hearing, and was able to win parole on his first attempt. After being released in 2019 he connected with Home Boy Industries in Los Angeles and started doing street outreach there as an intern with Project 180. When he saw that VoOCC was looking for a case manager, he knew it was meant to be. He said his own story serves as an inspiration to others looking for a second chance in life.

“Our dream is to have a building of our own with wrap-around services,” he added. In the mean time he and other staff members are caring for the more immediate needs of downtown San Diego’s unsheltered community by figuring out how to provide access to showers, clean drinking water, camaraderie and compassion.

The latter two are accomplished within the unique VoOCC programs like choir rehearsals, performances, and the song writing workshop. “What Steph created was a safe space for folks to be who they are, no matter who they are,” Jamous said. Many choir members were musicians and artists earlier in life, and the choir presents an opportunity to reawaken that talent.

Choir member Christopher Edmonds, 50, originally from Tennessee, was quick to show me a photo of how he dressed as Michael Jackson for Halloween, winning several contest with his attire and make up. He boasted that he and Jackson share the same birthday, though not the same birth year. A resident of the Island Village apartments, he said when he found the choir he immediately felt he could be his authentic self. “I belong here, this is my family,” he said. Edmonds wrote two songs over the weekend and shared them with the group: You Know Who You Are, and The Statue of Liberty. When another member of the workshop became emotional after reading her song lyrics aloud Edmonds was quick to rush over with a supportive hug.

“The choir is life-affirming,” said choir member volunteer Lorna, who joined back in 2016. She felt the connection even more strongly during the lockdown when people were suffering even more from the forced isolation. Meeting over zoom brought the concepts of unconditional love and humanity back to the forefront, “where it should be,” she said. She added that because of the choir’s exposure on national television, they were able to get donations of cell phones, wifi hotspots and laptops to choir members who did not have a way to communicate during the 19 months of pandemic lockdown. “It shows what a lot of good people are able to do, emphasizing the positivity that goes on here.” Lorna calls song writing workshop leader Francesca Valle a gangster therapist, able to heal people through song writing. Valle has also been able to get keyboards and harmonicas donated.

The healing doesn’t stop with generating uplifting psychological and emotional well-being. Four days a week Programs Director Beck Amensen oversees outreach that starts with dispensing more than 300 cups of coffee per day. And it’s not just any coffee. Local favorite Ryan Brothers Coffee donates coffee to the choir’s outreach effort. On a typical morning, people patiently line up for that coffee heavily amended with creamers and sugar. They also load up on cans of soup or ready to eat meals in a can, cup of soup noodle packets, water, fruit and whatever other donated items are available. Those same customers come back an hour later when volunteers like Karma LaDonna have shifted from dispensing the items in their own pantry to distributing snack bags. The food for the snack bags is provided by the Lucky Duck Foundation, then packaged by the Salvation Army, who brings the bags in cartons to the Living Waters Church where the VoOCC rents space. Those bags contain several snacks, water, bread, peanut butter crackers and electrolyte powder. Choir volunteers typically open the bags and add a few more goodies before handing them out.

“We are the only feeding organization in the downtown area now that God’s Extended Hand has closed down,” Amensen said. God’s Extended Hand, just a block away, was closed in August 2021, after 96 years of offering people two meals a day and a place to spend the night. Amensen noted that large organizations like Father Joe’s Village and the Salvation Army also serve food, however, many clients feel there are too many strings attached to getting that plate of food. And while the choir facility is a sober space, Amensen said, and all people in that space are required to treat each other and themselves with respect, they can sign in with whatever name they want to use that day. “We’ve had several Mother Teresas sign in on our signup sheet,” she smiled.

When she is not managing the food give away operation, Amensen is in charge of psychological support, specialized programs such as veteran services, life skills workshops. She collaborates with Rivera and Jamous on securing housing and/or shelter for choir members. Amensen has been a singer since her youth, and has a professional background in behavioral health and security. She surprised everyone in the choir on a recent Monday rehearsal by capping off her list of “housekeeping” notifications with a solo performance.

The VoOCC carries on, lifting the hearts of everyone who comes in contact with them.