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Mobilizing community media

An interesting story in today's New York Times tells of the Media Mobilizing Project, a organization that's promoting community journalism in some of Philadelphia's toughest neighborhoods. Noam Cohen writes:

The Brewerytown neighborhood is experiencing an intense struggle with gentrification and street violence — something I could have learned by searching Brewerytown at a news site like Philly.com (recent headlines: “Brewerytown Man Charged With Two Stabbings,” “Firearms, Explosive Devices Found in Brewerytown Home”).

But, in fact, I learned it by hearing the collective news judgment of Mr. (Todd) Wolfson’s group. After a free-flowing discussion about the kind of news they see and read in mainstream outlets, the group of about 15 was encouraged by the class’s three teachers to suggest their own story ideas, a few of which they will turn into five-minute video segments by the end of the eight-week class. A pattern quickly emerged: proposed topics included gun control, violence in schools, as well as crime against cab drivers.

The project got a boost from a $150,000 grant from the Knight Foundation in Miami, which is donating $25 million over five years “for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news.” (Other 2007 recipients include the Chi-Town Daily News, MTV - which has "Choose or Lose" 2008 election street team reporters in all 50 states - and Gotham Gazette.) Click here to learn more about last year's winners and here to read a FAQ about the News Challenge. Cohen continues:

The free classes, which also include Internet training as well as the opportunity to buy a steeply discounted computer, were initially meant for immigrants. But that didn’t sit well with Joyce Haynes, 51, who works in housekeeping at the Gallery, a shopping center on Market Street East. She heard about the classes through the Service Employees International Union, and asked, “It’s a free program. Why is it just for immigrants?”

So while the class is still dominated by immigrants, Ms. Haynes and a few other nonimmigrants have joined as well, and for her report, she and a few others plan to look at the competition for jobs between union labor and immigrant workers.

Organizer Todd Wolfson told the Times that the project aims to help narrow the digital divide as well, by helping greater numbers of diverse people get email, make and post videos, and - most of all - share stories online.

A reminder: If your community has created positive change, we'd love to see a video about it. Click here to learn about Everyday Democracy's Making Every Voice Matter video contest. The deadline is April 16.

Friday digest-open thread 2/29/08

Today is Leap Year Day. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a leapling - someone born on February 29, whose birthday comes only once every four years? Fun facts: The last time February 29 fell on a Friday was 1980. The next time will be 2036. Here's a special website for folks born on February 29, and a list of Leap Year events all around the world. Are you doing anything special to mark the occasion?

Writing on his blog yesterday, Peter Levine (director of the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) mentioned a new CIRCLE study which found dramatically different voting patterns based on whether or not young adults have attended college. From the CIRCLE website: "Although half of young Americans ages 18-29 have never enrolled in college, 79 percent of the young voters on Super Tuesday attended college, according to new CIRCLE research. This gap was also evident in youth turnout rates: one in four eligible young voters with college experience voted on Super Tuesday, compared with one in 14 eligible young voters with no college experience." Peter writes: "One important reason is unequal civic education. The activities in school that help people to participate are basically reserved for our more successful students." The Associated Press and National Public Radio did stories based on the findings.

Last weekend was the annual State of the Black Union conference in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, National Association of Realtors President-elect Charles McMillan, himself a black man, noted that his organization "is committed to removing disparities in homeownership and making the face of homeownership in this country look more like America.” According to the Census Bureau, slightly less than half of black households own their own homes, while about three-quarters of European-American families do.

Registration is open now for "American Evolution: Arts in the New Civic Life," the 2008 conference from Americans for the Arts, set June 20-22 in Philadephia. Planners say: "At this convention, Americans for the Arts will come together to share the strategies and the secrets of leading creative communities. We'll celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first percent for art ordinance in the city that created it. We'll visit traditions in arts education that date back to the founding of the country and continue on the cutting edge." Get more info here.

Friday digest-open thread 1/25/08

As Martin Luther King Jr. Week winds down, take a few minutes to watch this wonderful video from Delaware-based Hearts and Minds Films. It features clips of Dr. King himself interspersed with children of today speaking his words. It's beautiful stuff ... click on the image above, and pass it along.

In other news:

Nearly 600 people in Lynchburg, Virginia, have signed up to take part in that city's Community Dialogue on Race and Racism. More than 400 of them showed up last Friday for a kickoff celebration. The action-oriented dialogues begin during the first week of February. Lynchburg has been selected as one of eight communities that will partner with the Study Circles Resource Center - soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy - on our Communities Creating Racial Equity initiative.

Also in the Middle Atlantic region, the YWCA of Lancaster (Pennsylvania) also has launched study circles on racism in the nearby community of Lititz, with plans to possibly grow the discussion series throughout Lancaster County. "Study circles are definitely in keeping with the two key missions of the YWCA, as an advocate for women's issues and confronting racism," Dorothy Evans, assistant executive director of the Y, told the Lititz Record.

Lima, Ohio, is a city that pioneered study circles in the early 1990s amid racial tensions after the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles. Now, Lima residents are on edge again following the January 4 fatal shooting of an African American woman during a drug raid in which police officers arrested the woman's boyfriend.

"The shooting has led to much soul searching about the mistrust between minorities and police and what happens to cities when manufacturing jobs move out and drugs move in," Associated Press reporter John Seewer wrote in an article this week. Read it here. Another recent AP story - this one by Ramit Plushnick-Masti - explores the rise in the drug trade in other Rust Belt cities.

Now, go back and re-watch that video.

Make it a day on, not a day off

Today - January 15 - is the real birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and a good day to stop and think about how you'd like to spend the holiday next Monday. Many people get the day off from work or school, but volunteers across the nation will "make it a day on, not a day off" by doing some community service, either on Monday or the preceding or following weekends. In fact, eight years after King Day was first observed in 1986, Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act to designate the holiday as a day of national service.

Click here to search for opportunities near you. If you're in Waco, Texas, you could help build community gardens. If you're in Portland, Oregon, you could connect with the local Foster Grandparents program. On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, you could join AmeriCorps volunteers to winterize low-income homes or assemble quilts for local shelters. In Bloomington, Indiana, you might help members of Eta Sigma Gamma wrap up a warm winter coat drive. 

The service won't end on King Day. In memory of the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, a coalition of King Day organizers led by the Corporation for National and Community Service are calling for "40 Days of Nonviolence: Building the Beloved Community" as a time to study principles of nonviolent action; examine community structures that lead to violence and engage in projects to address those underlying issues (see below); and plan and implement sustainable service activities to extend throughout the year and beyond. (Click here to see Philadelphia Inquirer coverage of a news conference announcing the campaign. Philadelphia has the nation's largest King Day community service program, with about 60,000 participants expected this year.)

The Study Circles Resource Center - soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy - has worked with hundreds of communities to talk about and create positive, sustainable change around issues of race. Click here and here to get more information. Let's make this a King Day with a difference.