Each newsletter we like to highlight Midnight Forum participants and trainers who keep our Youth Development Program a positive force in the community.

Eduardo Ochoa was born in El Salvador but since 1994, the Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Columbia Heights has been home. Neighborhood friends and family introduced him to Hip-Hop through the song All about the Benjamin’s. But it was 2001 when he really got into Hip Hop visual arts--AKA graffiti.

Eduardo was recruited in January 2003 at a Career Fair in Bell Multicultural High School. He was attracted to the Midnight Forum by hopes of enhancing his graffiti art skills but he has appreciated learning a little bit of history and developing his awareness of the business side of this form. Eduardo credits the program for improving his technique using spray paint, including fading colors, keeping the letters straight and just developing his own style. He’s been applying what he’s learned in drawings and murals on walls and canvases.

Eduardo has proof he’s a star artist: a mural he did for his high school art class is now on display. But he gives credit to his pal Alex, also in the Midnight Forum Youth Program and to trainer Mike Hammond. His star rose even further in August 2003, when he entered a contest to create an image on the theme, “Doing Something Positive.” His strikingly simple “Peace” design won second place (while Alex got first).

Eduardo also was a key participant in creating two major murals that were the focus of the summer Midnight Forum program. The canvas mural of “What is The Midnight Forum” was displayed at two public events, Friendship House Showcase and Eastern Market Day. Eduardo also brought his skills to the public mural of in the historic district of U Street at Capitol City Records.

Eduardo says: "The Midnight Forum Youth Program is a Hip-Hop a place to have fun and learn at the same time. It keeps me off the streets by being entertained and now is a hobby of mine, visual arts."

The Midnight Forum Board of Directors and Walter “DJ Menace” Chavez - a Shinning Star at Midnight