Youth and Digital Empowerment

Practitioners in the field of youth and digital media will share their work empowering youth to identify issues important in their communities and to share their message through digital and social media. They will share examples of their projects and address challenges including access to technology, privacy concerns and more.

David Cooper Moore will talk about Temple University's Powerful Voices for Kids program (http://mediaeducationlab.com/powerful-voices-kids-program). The mission of the Powerful Voices for Kids program is to strengthen children's abilities to think for themselves, communicate effectively using language and technology tools, and use their powerful voices to contribute to the quality of life in their families, their schools, their communities, and the world. He will speak about the program itself with a focus on curriculum and pedagogical approaches to youth media.

Laura Deutch is the founder of Messages in Motion (http://messagesinmotion.com). MIM offers youth participants the opportunity to produce short video postcards that communicate personal and social messages about their diverse life experiences. As the van travels through the city, the stories inspire, educate and provoke participants from different communities to learn from one another. She will present an overview of the program and focus on building community partnerships as youth and youth-serving organizations learn from each other’s projects. (Plus, a tour inside the MIM van!)

Sam Reed is the founder of Sriii Consulting and a blogger for the Philadelphia Public School Notebook (http://www.thenotebook.org/users/sriii2000). He provides support to schools and youth-serving organizations around media literacy and arts education integration. He will share his curriculum unit, MySpace in Democracy, that conducts an inquiry on the risks and rights youth develop and maintain online.

Who should attend?

Youth-serving organizations seeking to expand their digital media programs
Nonprofits and government agencies committed to engaging young people
Media makers
Social entrepreneurs
Anybody who wants to learn more about, or share their experiences of, the fast-growing and powerful force of youth and digital media

Like last month, we’ll be streaming this event live on the Internet, and supporting a Twitter backchannel (via #phlnet2). So, tell your friends outside of Philadelphia (or others who can’t attend in person) so they can participate in the event remotely. More information will be available on our website: http://phillynetsquared.org .

But come down in person if you can. Lite fare will be provided, and it will be fun, interactive and informative.

We very gratefully acknowledge our sponsors for this event: The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (http://www.philaculture.org) and the American Friends Service Committee (http://afsc.org), without whose support, these events would not be possible.