Help me keep our youth paid and learning (online) this summer

Hey friends and family,

As many of you may know, I’ve done an unusual thing with my career. I’ve been working at the same nonprofit since I was in grad school. The reason I’ve chosen to stay at Wide Angle Youth Media is because I love working with talented young people, and I get a huge thrill out of seeing them use our programs to pursue their life and career goals. Also, we get work on some really cool projects, like making videos for the National Endowment for the Arts, Horror Movie Parodies for train companies, and animations about healthcare.

During the shutdown, we can't go out and film for clients, but our team isn’t taking a break. In the face of COVID-19, we are prioritizing paid media training and education for our high school students and apprentices. Over the past 8 weeks, they have planned a Virtual Prom for high schoolers across Baltimore, facilitated conversations on Baltimore’s recovery with national celebrities through Baltimore Homecoming, partnered with the Baltimore City Health Department to create design collateral promoting safe social distancing, and edited projects for 8 video and design clients.

We remain committed to youth employment and we’re 74% of the way to our summer youth salary goal. But we need your help to raise $15,800 so we can pay 17 young people wages from May-August. As virtual workers and program participants, our youth will hone 21st Century skills through meaningful employment - gaining experiences that will help sustain them now and build a foundation to advance their career in a post-Covid-19 economy.

I know that many people will be unable to make donations during this time, but any amount will help. Also, for all my friends and family who are fundraising for your own projects, I’m willing to do a trade up to $10 - if you donate to WAYM, I’ll make a matching donation to your cause (at least, I’ll keep matching until I run out of money!). These contributions go directly to young people’s wages.

• $24 - 2 hours wages for a Video or Design apprentice
• $48 - 4 hours wages for Video or Design apprentice
• $96 - 8 hour workday for a Video or Design apprentice
• $250 - 2 days wages for Full Time apprentice
• $625 1 weeks wages for Full Time apprentice
• $1,500 - 2 months wages for an Assistant Producer (60 hours)