Executive Director's Desk
Written by Deepa Fernandes
Friday, 30 July 2010 00:00
Dearest friends and supporters,
Greetings from the PPH team! We wanted to send you a summer update about our work as you have been so key to our programming and successes.
Teen media makers getting busy!
As I write, I wish that you could be right here in our New York City office with me as you would be in the center of a bustling hub of teenagers learning, sharing, and generally having a great summer --- and in the process creating radio documentaries, media policy curriculum, and even musical ditties that express their summer experience. (Check out our Facebook page for the musical extravaganza!)
If you were here with me, you’d feel the incredible vibe of sixteen teenagers who are spending their entire summer exploring critical social issues in their community (from immigration to racial profiling to the school to prison pipeline,) and using the tools of journalism and digital media production to conduct serious inquiry and elevate the voices of some of the most voiceless New Yorkers.
Our teenagers in DC are just as active! When our partner group, Youth Educational Alliance, came to our DC crew talking about the fact that in some DC high schools only one career counselor is available for 650 students (ever wonder why so many public school students can’t access college or get support navigating that complicated world?), our team decided a radio documentary on this issue was necessary. Production is underway. Next week, DC Rootz reporters will be interviewing the DC’s controversial school chancellor, Michelle Rhee. Now that’s youth taking action, taking serious issues to people who make policy that impact their lives!
What we are most excited by this summer, as we approach our historic ten year anniversary of Radio Rootz, is that our summer program is 100% youth lead. The coordinator of the entire program, Kyra Lawson, joined Rootz as a 16 year-old in the Manhattan Comprehensive High School class I was teaching. Five years later, and having graduated through every level of our tiered youth programming, Kyra (also a Rap Diva and Journalism college student) is a seasoned media maker and teacher. And she is not alone. Kristal Graham and Sidra Khatkhatay, who have also been with Radio Rootz for years, both exceptional young women who are passionate about using radio to tell stories, are working alongside Kyra to guide the youth leaders and interns through the complex process of documentary making. Can’t wait for you all to hear their final works! Stay tuned...
But wait, that’s not all our youth are doing this summer... If you’re getting tired, well, we’re not! And the young people in our highest level of Radio Rootz, the Digital Expansion Fellowship (DEF), are far from tired. Our DEF Fellows are pumped and busy at work learning the ins and outs of media policy that governs cell phone usage. Sound arcane and far from the way you would want to spend your summer? Well once these youth fellows get done, they will have created compelling media products and workshops that will help us all understand the whats and hows of cell phone governance and usage. I promise you’ll discover something you didn’t know, and it might even make you so upset with the big guns (think AT&T, Verizon...) that you might want to do something about it.
Critical reporting from the Grassroots
Yet it is not just our youth who are busy at work this summer. Our adult reporters, who all come from community organizing groups and have learned how to use journalism and media production to impact the public debate around critical social issues, are out in the streets reporting on everything from Arizona’s immigration law to the victory by domestic workers in the NY State Legislature guaranteeing them basic rights and protections that most other workers enjoy. One of our reporters, Jaisal Noor, decided to focus his energy on investigating an issue that has disappeared from the mainstream radar, yet is alive and thriving in low-income communities of color: how military recruiters are targeting youth to help fill the dwindling ranks. It is a powerful piece of radio, that aired nationally on Pacifica Radio’s FSRN. Hope you can take 29 minutes to listen!
Upcoming Journalism Workshops: NYC
We are also gearing up for two major digital media-journalism institutes starting in September. Our signature 12-week journalism 101, will train twenty members of community organizing groups in all the basics of radio and digital media journalism, while our first ever “Advanced Institute” will involve member-reporters who have graduated through the basic training, taking them to a more sophisticated level of journalism. We have no doubt that the stories they produce will contribute to diversifying the public conversation around critical issues. (And if you are interested in signing up for the training, get your application in soon! Info at our website.)
Media Policy updates
In addition to our exciting youth policy fellowship (mentioned above), we are busy with multiple projects. Our policy team returned energized from a great meeting of allies in Detroit in June where our fellow members of the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAGNet) gathered to share, plot and dream! With a vast national network sharing our belief that progressive media policies can transform our communities, we are continuing the discussion with our community based partners about how technology and communications infrastructure is critical to the work they are doing. Building on our stimulus application to the federal government, where we brought together 21 community organizing groups and public schools to build local digital media infrastructure (we’re still waiting to hear, cross your fingers for us!), we are now documenting their innovative uses of digital media and communications technology, as well as the challenges they face. And here’s what is really exciting: our partners are going to be sharing with us what they envision technology policy could be to enhance the social justice struggles and the quality of life in our communities. Together we’re all dreaming big, and you’ll be hearing about it soon!
Staffing Updates
Finally, the PPH fam has been growing and we are so excited to welcome Carlos Pareja, long time community media maker and activist to our staff! Carlos joins us as our Training and Policy Director. Meanwhile, we’re thrilled to announce that Radio Rootz has new Co-Directors, and that they both are long-time PPH staff! Sylvia Guerrero, who first began teaching our Saturday classes five years ago, and Jacqueline Kook, who brings her vast experience in youth development and education, are collaborating to lead Radio Rootz into our next decade. Carlos, Sylvia and Jackie, our new team of Program Directors, together with the visionary leadership of Leigh Ann Caldwell in Washington DC, are excited and passionate and we know PPH is in good hands as we enter the next decade of work!
We also welcome Rob Robinson on-board as our Community Organizing Outreach Coordinator. Rob, if you don’t know him, is a long-time, deeply passionate and effective community organizer. Coming to us from our wonderful partner organization, Picture the Homeless, Rob will be spearheading our work with community organizing groups. To our DC team we welcome Akeel Ali, veteran public school teacher (one of those teachers you will *always* remember!) and long time video producer and media maker. Akeel hit the ground running, mentoring our DC youth to do their first ever live broadcast of a huge youth festival!
Now if you didn’t hear this exciting news, we’re all proud of our Policy Program Associate, Kristofer Rios, who is taking his personal journalism skills to the next level as he has just begun a Masters degree in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Go Kris! And Abdulai Bah, who has trained, mentored and schooled dozens of community reporters over the years for PPH has helped us launch prospective work in his native West Africa, with an exciting reporting and training project in Monrovia (Liberia) slated for the Fall. Stay tuned!
And finally, news of the PPH fam would not be complete if I didn’t tell you about my little slice of sunshine, my 20 month old daughter, Maya Lizzy. Maya, who attended our recent annual staff retreat is busy at work on her “ABC’s” and learning how to speak a special language with her sister-cousin Aisha that involves a lot of giggling and mischievous looks. They constantly remind me of all that is precious in life.
Come visit!
Please remember, our doors in NYC and Washington DC are always open. Come visit us, soak in some of the great work that People’s Production House is doing, and continue to help us spread the word.
We’ll be sending you more regular updates, and expect to hear about our exciting Fall projects... including a reporting/training trip to Liberia, our participation in a community media conference in Tasmania, Australia, and lots more of the powerful work you know PPH is committed to doing.
Much love,
Deepa Fernandes
Greetings from the PPH team! We wanted to send you a summer update about our work as you have been so key to our programming and successes.
Teen media makers getting busy!
As I write, I wish that you could be right here in our New York City office with me as you would be in the center of a bustling hub of teenagers learning, sharing, and generally having a great summer --- and in the process creating radio documentaries, media policy curriculum, and even musical ditties that express their summer experience. (Check out our Facebook page for the musical extravaganza!)
If you were here with me, you’d feel the incredible vibe of sixteen teenagers who are spending their entire summer exploring critical social issues in their community (from immigration to racial profiling to the school to prison pipeline,) and using the tools of journalism and digital media production to conduct serious inquiry and elevate the voices of some of the most voiceless New Yorkers.
Our teenagers in DC are just as active! When our partner group, Youth Educational Alliance, came to our DC crew talking about the fact that in some DC high schools only one career counselor is available for 650 students (ever wonder why so many public school students can’t access college or get support navigating that complicated world?), our team decided a radio documentary on this issue was necessary. Production is underway. Next week, DC Rootz reporters will be interviewing the DC’s controversial school chancellor, Michelle Rhee. Now that’s youth taking action, taking serious issues to people who make policy that impact their lives!
What we are most excited by this summer, as we approach our historic ten year anniversary of Radio Rootz, is that our summer program is 100% youth lead. The coordinator of the entire program, Kyra Lawson, joined Rootz as a 16 year-old in the Manhattan Comprehensive High School class I was teaching. Five years later, and having graduated through every level of our tiered youth programming, Kyra (also a Rap Diva and Journalism college student) is a seasoned media maker and teacher. And she is not alone. Kristal Graham and Sidra Khatkhatay, who have also been with Radio Rootz for years, both exceptional young women who are passionate about using radio to tell stories, are working alongside Kyra to guide the youth leaders and interns through the complex process of documentary making. Can’t wait for you all to hear their final works! Stay tuned...
But wait, that’s not all our youth are doing this summer... If you’re getting tired, well, we’re not! And the young people in our highest level of Radio Rootz, the Digital Expansion Fellowship (DEF), are far from tired. Our DEF Fellows are pumped and busy at work learning the ins and outs of media policy that governs cell phone usage. Sound arcane and far from the way you would want to spend your summer? Well once these youth fellows get done, they will have created compelling media products and workshops that will help us all understand the whats and hows of cell phone governance and usage. I promise you’ll discover something you didn’t know, and it might even make you so upset with the big guns (think AT&T, Verizon...) that you might want to do something about it.
Critical reporting from the Grassroots
Yet it is not just our youth who are busy at work this summer. Our adult reporters, who all come from community organizing groups and have learned how to use journalism and media production to impact the public debate around critical social issues, are out in the streets reporting on everything from Arizona’s immigration law to the victory by domestic workers in the NY State Legislature guaranteeing them basic rights and protections that most other workers enjoy. One of our reporters, Jaisal Noor, decided to focus his energy on investigating an issue that has disappeared from the mainstream radar, yet is alive and thriving in low-income communities of color: how military recruiters are targeting youth to help fill the dwindling ranks. It is a powerful piece of radio, that aired nationally on Pacifica Radio’s FSRN. Hope you can take 29 minutes to listen!
Upcoming Journalism Workshops: NYC
We are also gearing up for two major digital media-journalism institutes starting in September. Our signature 12-week journalism 101, will train twenty members of community organizing groups in all the basics of radio and digital media journalism, while our first ever “Advanced Institute” will involve member-reporters who have graduated through the basic training, taking them to a more sophisticated level of journalism. We have no doubt that the stories they produce will contribute to diversifying the public conversation around critical issues. (And if you are interested in signing up for the training, get your application in soon! Info at our website.)
Media Policy updates
In addition to our exciting youth policy fellowship (mentioned above), we are busy with multiple projects. Our policy team returned energized from a great meeting of allies in Detroit in June where our fellow members of the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAGNet) gathered to share, plot and dream! With a vast national network sharing our belief that progressive media policies can transform our communities, we are continuing the discussion with our community based partners about how technology and communications infrastructure is critical to the work they are doing. Building on our stimulus application to the federal government, where we brought together 21 community organizing groups and public schools to build local digital media infrastructure (we’re still waiting to hear, cross your fingers for us!), we are now documenting their innovative uses of digital media and communications technology, as well as the challenges they face. And here’s what is really exciting: our partners are going to be sharing with us what they envision technology policy could be to enhance the social justice struggles and the quality of life in our communities. Together we’re all dreaming big, and you’ll be hearing about it soon!
Staffing Updates
Finally, the PPH fam has been growing and we are so excited to welcome Carlos Pareja, long time community media maker and activist to our staff! Carlos joins us as our Training and Policy Director. Meanwhile, we’re thrilled to announce that Radio Rootz has new Co-Directors, and that they both are long-time PPH staff! Sylvia Guerrero, who first began teaching our Saturday classes five years ago, and Jacqueline Kook, who brings her vast experience in youth development and education, are collaborating to lead Radio Rootz into our next decade. Carlos, Sylvia and Jackie, our new team of Program Directors, together with the visionary leadership of Leigh Ann Caldwell in Washington DC, are excited and passionate and we know PPH is in good hands as we enter the next decade of work!
We also welcome Rob Robinson on-board as our Community Organizing Outreach Coordinator. Rob, if you don’t know him, is a long-time, deeply passionate and effective community organizer. Coming to us from our wonderful partner organization, Picture the Homeless, Rob will be spearheading our work with community organizing groups. To our DC team we welcome Akeel Ali, veteran public school teacher (one of those teachers you will *always* remember!) and long time video producer and media maker. Akeel hit the ground running, mentoring our DC youth to do their first ever live broadcast of a huge youth festival!
Now if you didn’t hear this exciting news, we’re all proud of our Policy Program Associate, Kristofer Rios, who is taking his personal journalism skills to the next level as he has just begun a Masters degree in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Go Kris! And Abdulai Bah, who has trained, mentored and schooled dozens of community reporters over the years for PPH has helped us launch prospective work in his native West Africa, with an exciting reporting and training project in Monrovia (Liberia) slated for the Fall. Stay tuned!
And finally, news of the PPH fam would not be complete if I didn’t tell you about my little slice of sunshine, my 20 month old daughter, Maya Lizzy. Maya, who attended our recent annual staff retreat is busy at work on her “ABC’s” and learning how to speak a special language with her sister-cousin Aisha that involves a lot of giggling and mischievous looks. They constantly remind me of all that is precious in life.
Come visit!
Please remember, our doors in NYC and Washington DC are always open. Come visit us, soak in some of the great work that People’s Production House is doing, and continue to help us spread the word.
We’ll be sending you more regular updates, and expect to hear about our exciting Fall projects... including a reporting/training trip to Liberia, our participation in a community media conference in Tasmania, Australia, and lots more of the powerful work you know PPH is committed to doing.
Much love,
Deepa Fernandes
Written by Katherine Aaron
Friday, 09 April 2010 12:53
Friends of PPH,
We are writing with exciting news. After a decade at the helm of People’s Production House, executive director Deepa Fernandes is shifting into a new role as PPH’s Director of Journalism. She has led PPH from its humble start to its thriving present, but her skills as an administrator are dwarfed by her talents as a journalist. This move will allow Deepa to focus on building the journalistic skills of the many reporters we teach, connecting our reporters to national and international news outlets, and creating in-depth multi-media news stories.
Deepa’s new role also means that we are looking for an executive director. We are seeking someone with a solid grounding in New York City’s community organizing world, with managerial, administrative, and fundraising skills. We will be circulating a job announcement shortly, and we would love your help in spreading the word about this opportunity.
We are excited to bring new energy to the PPH team, while keeping Deepa’s expertise and knowledge within the organization. You'll see a job announcement in a day or two, and we'll be calling on you to get the word out far and wide. Please contact me or Deepa with any questions, and we'll keep you posted as the PPH family grows.
Kat Aaron
PPH Board Chair
PPH is hiring a new Executive Director -- see our job advertisement here.
We are writing with exciting news. After a decade at the helm of People’s Production House, executive director Deepa Fernandes is shifting into a new role as PPH’s Director of Journalism. She has led PPH from its humble start to its thriving present, but her skills as an administrator are dwarfed by her talents as a journalist. This move will allow Deepa to focus on building the journalistic skills of the many reporters we teach, connecting our reporters to national and international news outlets, and creating in-depth multi-media news stories.
Deepa’s new role also means that we are looking for an executive director. We are seeking someone with a solid grounding in New York City’s community organizing world, with managerial, administrative, and fundraising skills. We will be circulating a job announcement shortly, and we would love your help in spreading the word about this opportunity.
We are excited to bring new energy to the PPH team, while keeping Deepa’s expertise and knowledge within the organization. You'll see a job announcement in a day or two, and we'll be calling on you to get the word out far and wide. Please contact me or Deepa with any questions, and we'll keep you posted as the PPH family grows.
Kat Aaron
PPH Board Chair
PPH is hiring a new Executive Director -- see our job advertisement here.
Written by Deepa Fernandes
Monday, 11 January 2010 17:18
Dearest
Family and Supporters of PPH,
When 2009 began I was a brand new mother, my beautiful daughter Maya was just one month old. I was thrilled to nurture my new baby into the world, and I was also excited that the PPH family was helping out… “it takes a village…” never rang so true. Maya was blessed in her first year to have so much love and teaching from PPH staff, Rootz youth and CNPI members, all while they worked solidly to train dozens of new community journalists and produce hundreds of radio reports that aired locally and nationally!
Written by Deepa Fernandes
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 14:33
People's Production House is adapting to the new economy by transitioning to a more sustainable business model with multiple sources of revenue. We are excited about the long-term value of our expertise in journalism and media education and we believe people will pay for it. We see a bright future in the growing recognition, including from the Obama administration, that media education is a critical piece of a healthy digital ecology. And we remain committed to our social justice mission, which will continue to make us attractive to many foundations.
