BAVC Media Next Gen at the White House!
Today, BAVC Media celebrates!
It is with incredible pride that I share some great news: BAVC Media Next Gen programs – programs that would not exist without our partners and contributors from our many communities – are today being honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House.
Why? BAVC Media’s youth program is being recognized for its effectiveness in promoting learning and life skills and receiving the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, the nation’s highest honor for youth programs!
The award recognizes the country’s best after-school and out-of-school-time creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment. The 12 awardees—chosen from a pool of more than 251 nominations and 50 finalists—are also recognized for improving literacy and language abilities, communication and performance skills, and cultural awareness.
In an era when teenagers are considered a valuable target market, and in San Francisco, where diverse populations are being priced out of the city at an alarming rate, BAVC Media’s Next Gen program provides low-income teens with the media literacy and tech tools they need to be the creators of their own stories.
With access, autonomy, mentors, and a safe place to learn, every Next Gen program graduate leaves with a portfolio of work, college credit, and a paid social action internship working with a real-world client. Students choose from tracks in video production, audio production, coding and web design and can return multiple years to gain more complex knowledge through deeper immersion.
In addition to the national recognition bestowed by receipt of the prestigious award, BAVC Media has been given a challenge grant totaling $50,000 from two donors to the Next Gen program. To receive the funds, BAVC Media must now raise $50,000 in individual contributions by December 31, 2016.
In the 2016-17 school year BAVC Media’s Next Gen program had three times as many applicants as it could accept. With additional support BAVC Media plans to expand its programming in the 2017 academic year to better meet program demand.
You can watch the awards ceremony live, today, at 2pm Eastern, 11am Pacific, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/livestream. We’ve sent Nicole Rivera, a three-year Next Gen program participant who just began her first year at San Francisco State, and Lauren Taylor, our Sr. Education Manager, to meet the First Lady and receive the award on our behalf. Cheer them on with us!
For more information about Next Gen programs, please visit bavc.org/nextgen.
Follow Next Gen at twitter.com/BAVC Medianextgen, and on Instagram at instagram.com/BAVC Medianextgen.
And if you’d like to make a donation toward the challenge grant: bavc.org/donate.
Thank you for your support and partnership with BAVC Media. We could never have achieved this great honor without your support and collaboration.
