Changing bedrooms and lives in Gilpin Court

Destany Bing had put on her best pink dress and begun sweeping her bedroom floor by the time the makeover team arrived at her Gilpin Court home.

The room transformation was the culmination of a 22-week program that paired the 10-year-old Carver Elementary School student and 12 other girls in the low-income housing development with adult mentors for a journey through art projects, life-skills lessons, meals, games and girl talk.

Destany could hardly wait to see how the colorful pink and blue bedding, pillows, desk, picture frames and other hand-crafted accessories would brighten the dull off-white walls and dark linoleum floor in her bedroom in the town house she shares with her mother and four siblings.

Her mentor, Rikki Nimmo, who has a marketing job and no previous art training, decided early on that maybe the two should stick to simple designs and few colors. Destany, however, "was confident in her belief that 'more is more,'" Nimmo recalled.

Take a lampshade-painting project, for example.

"While I carefully selected a combination of pink and blue, Destany poured a glob of six different colors onto her palette," Nimmo said. "'Don't you realize that all the colors mixed together will make brown?'" Nimmo asked, but Destany waved off the question with a flick of her brush. "To my amazement, we were both right," Nimmo said. "All the colors did create a brown, but it was the most beautiful brown I had ever seen."

The program that brought the duo together is SOHO, a "Space Of Her Own," jointly administered by the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, ART 180, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the Friends Association for Children at Gilpin Court.

SOHO, aimed at girls 9 to 12, is led by Sally Kemp, director of community outreach at the Visual Arts Center. SOHO began in the spring with Thursday-evening meetings at the arts center that were stepping stones on the road to the makeover finale, but, more importantly, were geared toward building self-confidence and encouraging active, healthy, productive lifestyles for the at-risk girls.

The lampshade turned out to be a metaphor for the bond established by Destany and Rikki. Though their formal alliance officially ended in June, they've continued to spend time together. Their affection for each other is obvious, although shy Destany shows it more with her eyes than her words.

Selina Bing was a bit skeptical when she was approached about putting her daughter in the program. But early on, it was clear that Destany was reaping tangible benefits, she said. "She really loved the program and she loved the people she was around.

"I have 10 children, five at home, and I thought it would be a way for her to get a little extra attention," said Bing, who works nights and sleeps during the day. "It keeps them busy and out of trouble, and broadens their horizons."

SOHO is based on a similar grant-supported program started in Alexandria in 2003 to keep low-income girls out of the juvenile-justice system by adding to their support systems. Alexandria's Court Service Unit has tracked SOHO participants and found that 97 percent have not become court-involved, according to The Washington Post.

Yewande Lewis, a Blackwell Elementary School reading teacher, mentored Novella Jones, a Fox Elementary School student. "The first night I attended, I knew I just had to be involved in this," she said.

The girls and mentors weren't paired up for the first four weeks. Organizers wanted to see if natural matches would evolve. On "match night," Kemp recalled, the stage was set for high drama -- the mentors behind a makeshift curtain, candles lit and the girls seated on stools a la the old "Dating Game" TV show.

Destany had made up her mind. She wanted Rikki Nimmo. Early that evening, she memorized which shoes Nimmo was wearing so she could pick her out behind the curtain.

Why Nimmo? "She was nice," the soft-spoken Destany said.

Dinner became as much of a focal point as the art projects on those Thursday evenings, Lewis said. Conversations flowed about the challenges of home life, extracurricular activities, resolving conflicts, boyfriends and more, Lewis said.

Female chefs from Richmond were recruited to cook unusual dishes the girls hadn't tasted before. "The chefs also spoke about themselves, so the girls got to experience different role models," said Betsy Kelly, program manager of ART 180.

Kemp is attempting to solicit financing to sponsor another year of SOHO. The first year was made possible by the Jeanette Lipman Foundation, set up by a local philanthropist who targets causes with scant funding resources.

In the meantime, a second-generation SOHO of sorts has taken root at the Friends Association in Gilpin Court. Development director Shellie Smith said a SOHO girl's mother has offered to teach tap and ballet classes to SOHO participants and their mentors this year.

The sustained relationships have extinguished Selina Bing's fear "that y'all would bond and just disappear," she said, grinning broadly at Nimmo. "But she's not getting away."

Lewis said it can be hard to rearrange hectic schedules to open time for such a commitment. But at the program's conclusion, she wrote:

"I was able to put the minor challenges of my own life in perspective after stealing a brief glimpse into the life of an underprivileged yet gifted young lady, a girl who had every reason to feel sorry for herself but who remained hopeful and ambitious. I saw a little bit of myself in her and in so doing, found a little more strength in myself."

Contact Julie Young at (804) 649-6732 or .