Help us expand Liberation summer camp, and provide powerful advocacy training for NYC teens who are directly impacted by the criminal justice system.
Each year since 2015, Echoes of Incarceration co-directs a 5-week filmmaking and social justice camp for NYC teens with the American Friends Service Committee. The camp centers youth who are directly impacted by the criminal justice and immigration systems. The camp is largely run by Echoes youth-producers (learn more about Echoes here www.echoesofincarceration.org, and see what the camp looks like in action here: https://youtu.be/bPg--JP0Zak)
The hardest thing we do each year is turning away youth who want to join. This summer especially we feel we can’t turn our back on young people who want to raise their voices and become agents of change.
This year, with Summer Youth Employment suspended, NYC youth losing so much from the virus, and a historic protest moment flourishing, we know we have an amazing resource for to reach and empower young people and we want to reach as many as we can.
We have the goal of raising at least $10,000 between now and June 25 to expand our camp. It takes about $500 to fund an additional camper, and $1500 to train and bring on one alumni as a junior counselor, where they get to consolidate what they’ve learned and become a powerful role model for the next generation of youth. Your contribution will mean so much for the young people and all of us in the Echoes community.
More about the camp:
This year, rather than try to translate our hands-on camera-based curriculum into zoom meetings we’ve completely redesigned our camp for the digital space. With ongoing isolation and loss of so many job opportunities, we’re focused on creating community and providing impactful job opportunities.
All campers will come together daily for team-building, photography exercises, and advocacy training. Then campers will then be able to apply for specific certificate programs. These opportunities include (As of 5/25/20):
- getting trained to be a Restorative Justice facilitator and peer mediator
- learning to run a social media advocacy campaign
- learning to be a relationship abuse prevention peer educator
We thought hard about skills that not only can be taught remotely, but can also are areas where young people can really engage deeply, and leverage their age and insights, and in many cases be more impactful in reaching their peers than adult professional. We also focused on skills that are marketable and desired by today’s schools and workforce.
Its been a ton of work to re-envision the camp for a digital space, but now that we have the model in place we’re no longer limited by the physical limitations of our meeting space, and can bring on more youth than we have in the past. But we need funds to make this a reality.
Please help us by contributing or helping to spread the word.
Echoes typically raises over half our budget with for-hire productions. This has normally be a great thing: it provides real world work experience for the crew, and avoids so much of the compromises that often come with running after grants and pleasing funders. However, we were hit hard by the COVID quarantine, and all our for-hire projects and contracts for the year have been cancelled. Now more than ever we need to reach out and ask for help in doing our work.
Each year since 2015, Echoes of Incarceration co-directs a 5-week filmmaking and social justice camp for NYC teens with the American Friends Service Committee. The camp centers youth who are directly impacted by the criminal justice and immigration systems. The camp is largely run by Echoes youth-producers (learn more about Echoes here www.echoesofincarceration.org, and see what the camp looks like in action here: https://youtu.be/bPg--JP0Zak)
The hardest thing we do each year is turning away youth who want to join. This summer especially we feel we can’t turn our back on young people who want to raise their voices and become agents of change.
This year, with Summer Youth Employment suspended, NYC youth losing so much from the virus, and a historic protest moment flourishing, we know we have an amazing resource for to reach and empower young people and we want to reach as many as we can.
We have the goal of raising at least $10,000 between now and June 25 to expand our camp. It takes about $500 to fund an additional camper, and $1500 to train and bring on one alumni as a junior counselor, where they get to consolidate what they’ve learned and become a powerful role model for the next generation of youth. Your contribution will mean so much for the young people and all of us in the Echoes community.
More about the camp:
This year, rather than try to translate our hands-on camera-based curriculum into zoom meetings we’ve completely redesigned our camp for the digital space. With ongoing isolation and loss of so many job opportunities, we’re focused on creating community and providing impactful job opportunities.
All campers will come together daily for team-building, photography exercises, and advocacy training. Then campers will then be able to apply for specific certificate programs. These opportunities include (As of 5/25/20):
- getting trained to be a Restorative Justice facilitator and peer mediator
- learning to run a social media advocacy campaign
- learning to be a relationship abuse prevention peer educator
We thought hard about skills that not only can be taught remotely, but can also are areas where young people can really engage deeply, and leverage their age and insights, and in many cases be more impactful in reaching their peers than adult professional. We also focused on skills that are marketable and desired by today’s schools and workforce.
Its been a ton of work to re-envision the camp for a digital space, but now that we have the model in place we’re no longer limited by the physical limitations of our meeting space, and can bring on more youth than we have in the past. But we need funds to make this a reality.
Please help us by contributing or helping to spread the word.
Echoes typically raises over half our budget with for-hire productions. This has normally be a great thing: it provides real world work experience for the crew, and avoids so much of the compromises that often come with running after grants and pleasing funders. However, we were hit hard by the COVID quarantine, and all our for-hire projects and contracts for the year have been cancelled. Now more than ever we need to reach out and ask for help in doing our work.
Organizer
JEREMY ROBINS
Organizer
Brooklyn, NY