My Story, My Power

The quest to bridge the gap of social injustice for the younger generation in low-income communities informed the conceptualization of the “My Story, My Power program.

Through this program, we engage and empower teenagers (ages 13-17) from marginalized communities in the art of storytelling through video and photography. The teens gain professional storytelling techniques and are trained in professional videography, non linear editing, photography, script writing, content development, and interview skills that could potentially change their lives for good.

Three cohorts of teenagers are trained per year, effective Spring of 2024. A total of 42 participants will graduate from this program each year. Each cohort will be trained for 3 months, which includes on-the-job training with our in-house production- “Echoes from the Valley.” The program will have 2 separate groups based on age (ages 13-15 and ages 16-17).

At the end of the 3-month hands-on program, the teenagers would be professionally equipped to create and develop story ideas, operate professional video cameras, take photographs, and acquire the skill of professional video and photo editing.

Our teenage participants are trained by professionals in the industry who understand the demography we’re working with and work with them based on their individual capabilities. For the safety of our participants, considering their age, background checks are done on all our trainers to ensure the safety of the teens we serve.

Participants are encouraged to work in groups and on completion of the training for each cohort, they work with mentors who guide them through the process of producing their first original story. The productions by our participants are premiered in the community at a community event, as well as broadcast on public access TV stations and social media platforms.

With this program, we achieve the following:

Engage the teens: Keep them busy with a field they will hopefully come to love which will help re-channel their focus and keep them off the streets and out of trouble.

Empower them: Hand power over to them by equipping the teens with a lifelong skill with which they could potentially build a career.

Give them a purpose: Helping the teens discover their creative abilities and the power they hold in their hands at the completion of this training will give them a purpose and potentially, help them become better versions of themselves and contributing members of society.

Raise a new Crop of Storytellers: The more storytellers we have in the marginalized communities, the better we’re able to tell stories about the plight of the underrepresented and misrepresented with the purpose of galvanizing social change for underserved communities.