Help us share youth media with over 1,800 Marylanders this spring

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving holiday with your loved ones. In the spirit of being thankful for so much, I am going to help kick off this season and "Giving Tuesday" to help drive support for an organization near and dear to my heart called Wide Angle Youth Media. Wide Angle (WAYM), is a tremendous Baltimore based non-profit where I have served on the BOD for six years now.

The best way for me to summarize WAYM is to highlight their use of media arts education in order to cultivate and amplify the voices of Baltimore youth to engage audiences across generational, cultural, and social divides. Their programs inspire creativity and instill confidence in young people, empowering them with skills to navigate school, career, and life. Each year, we serve more than 400 youth ages 10 – 24 from low-middle income households through five core programs: Video Team, Design Team, Baltimore Speaks Out Program, Community Voices, and Youth Speak Out. We partner with schools, libraries, service providers and public agencies to provide students with opportunities for artistic expression, paid work, access to wrap-around supports, and focus on academic achievement, to prepare them to enter the workforce.

In 2017-2018, hundreds of Baltimore youth spent a year creating photographs, graphic design projects and videos that reflect upon systems of oppression that shape the Black experience as well as their lived experiences, and depict Black struggle and Black joy. Students used media to educate their community – determining who needs to hear specific stories, and the best way to communicate around those topics.

We want to share this timely content through a purposeful distribution strategy that includes a new, free Wide Angle-produced curriculum, "Why Black Lives Matter - Discussing Race Through Film, Photography and Design", and we need your help!

This Giving Tuesday, give the gift of self-efficacy and help amplify youth voice:

• $10 covers a film festival submission for one youth video project.
• $25 pays a Youth Film Ambassador to present their work at a screening.
• $50 supports a teacher to attend a free educator training.
• $150 provides a free screening and discussion in a school or community organization.

With your support, our youth visionaries and the content they produced will spark in-depth, informed conversations at the heart of our social fabric.