Media Project Celebrates Youth Work
Young people had the opportunity to share the work they produced as participants in NYCHA’s first-ever Youth Media Project, an eight-week program that provided them with valuable skills in media production, at a culmination event in October at Lincoln Center.
Through the Youth Media Project, 72 NYCHA residents between the ages of 14 and 24 were matched with media instructors and production facilities from five community-based organizations: Abstrak Vision, Black Film Space, BronxNet, Cloe’s Corner, and Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Participants were taught how to storyboard projects across a variety of mediums that included fiction and nonfiction publishing, narrative journalism, broadcast journalism, videography, podcasting, and film post-production.
“Programs like this are essential to ending violence within communities because they give youth an outlet to redirect their energy,” said Cloe’s Corner Program Manager Ashley Heurtelou. “By letting youth experience firsthand how to be a creative, change influencer, or entrepreneur, they realize a new life is within their grasp. The Youth Media Project gave students concrete, eye-opening steps to make a fun, thoughtful piece that before would have seemed overwhelming and impossible to them. You never know how you can positively affect the youth if you don’t provide more programs like this to understand how impactful they are.”
The Youth Media Project was organized by NYCHA’s Office of Public-Private Partnerships and was funded through a larger $2 million grant provided to NYCHA in July 2021 by the City to support the creation of anti-violence programming for young people. The cost to fund the youth media component was $185,000. NYCHA took a holistic approach to programming and, in addition to the media program, provided a youth basketball league and anti-violence workshops.
“Providing NYCHA’s young people with an education in media production offers them an opportunity to articulate the issues that matter to them in a supportive and therapeutic setting,” said NYCHA Interim CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt. “The range of talent that was fostered through the Youth Media Project and the dedication of our partners was truly remarkable, and we hope that this vital program receives the backing needed to continue operating in the years to come.”
The participants who completed the program produced more than four hours of media content thanks to the instruction and facility access provided by the community partners. Participants said that the best part of the program was learning in a supportive teaching environment, connecting with peers, learning film and video production, benefitting from their instructors’ expertise, and gaining confidence from being in front of the camera.
“Most of our students started off inexperienced and now feel equipped to make use of accessible technology to join the world of content creation,” said Black Film Space Co-Founder Lande Youssef. “Black Film Space’s goal was to empower our youth participants about prioritizing the structure of a well-composed story. We are proud to say that they did indeed learn that. We are grateful for this opportunity through NYCHA!”
Five of the Youth Media Project participants were highlighted as part of an Ultimate Showcase – an exclusive recognition for young people who will work on a project that can be used as a portfolio piece for school applications or for interviewing for positions in media production.
Watch the video below to hear from the Youth Media Project participants: