FILMS Abortion: Past, Present, Future This documentary explores the history of abortion rights. LEARN MORE Breathing Easy: Environmental Hazards in in Public Housing EVC students focus their attention on the harmful impact that lead poisoning, mold, and pests and pesticides in low-come housing. LEARN MORE Cops Are(n't) Colorblind Our documentary film shows two main characters, Demitrius and Niaja, who experienced racial profiling as young teenagers. LEARN MORE Unequal Education Revisted More than twenty years later, the crew reunited to produce Unequal Education Revisited, bearing witness to the long-term impact that inequities plaguing our society. LEARN MORE

EVC STAFF We are a BIPOC-led and BIPOC-majority community of: Educators. Artists. Alumni. Changemakers. Ambreen Qureshi Executive Director Directora Ejecutiva LEARN MORE Cynthia Copeland Senior Media Education Specialist Especialista Superior en Educación de Medios LEARN MORE Dalia McGill Youth Media Instructor Instructora de Medios Juveniles LEARN MORE Margaret Sheble Archive Distribution Specialist Especialista en Distribución de Archivos LEARN MORE Mary Grueser Deputy Director, Programs Subdirectora de Programas LEARN MORE ALUMNI ADVISORY COUNCIL EVC’s inaugural Alumni Advisory Council was launched in June 2022 and helps EVC remain accountable to the populations it works with, and remain connected to the needs and goals of its alumni at all stages of their careers. The intergenerational Council serves as a sounding board for new directions proposed by EVC’s leadership, and advises on new directions for the organization that will honor the experiences of its members. The Council includes a Youth Committee, specifically for alumni aged 25 and under, in keeping with EVC’s youth-centered values and pedagogy. The Council advises on alumni relations and support, the ethical use of EVC’s film archive, and other matters related to EVC’s overarching mission and organizational goals. Alexus Stewart LEARN MORE Carol Román LEARN MORE Chris Caraballo LEARN MORE Christain Moore LEARN MORE Ines Morales LEARN MORE Isabella Araya LEARN MORE MJ Small LEARN MORE Madison Rivera LEARN MORE Maude Carroll LEARN MORE Raelene Holmes LEARN MORE Yhenni Vogue LEARN MORE EVC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Albert Bahar, Board Member Head of Digital Strategy, Travel & Hospitality, Adobe Mary Grueser, Non-Voting Staff Rep. Deputy Director, Programs Frances Ning, Board Member Citigroup Stacey M. Wright, Board Co-Secretary Staff Therapist, SUNY Downstate Student Counseling Center; Advanced Year Advisor, Columbia School of Social Work Colleen Devery, Board President Chief Strategy Officer, NAF Tiffany Harrington, Board Member HBO Max Campaign Asset Manager, WarnerMedia Ambreen Qureshi, Board Member Executive Director, Educational Video Center Torrance York, Board Member Artist/Photographer Marga Graves, Board Treasurer Deals Manager, PwC Jahaad J. Martin, Board Member Executive Director, Sub Complex Manager, Morgan Stanley Pam Sporn, Board Co-Secretary Director, Grito Productions; Member, New Day Films EVC FOUNDER Steve Goodman is the founding executive director emeritus of the Educational Video Center.... READ MORE

The Educational Video Center is an award-winning non-profit media organization dedicated to teaching documentary filmmaking to young people. EDUCATIONAL VIDEO CENTER: building a just and equitable world through the power of teaching, creating, and mobilizing youth-produced media. LEARN MORE CURRENT CAMPAIGNS LATEST EVENTS & NEWS We Are the Keepers Last week, the way our nation voted left us feeling punched in the gut. Like so many times during EVC’s 40 years... Nov 14, 2024 2 min read EVC Activism From EVC’s beginning in the 80s, our youth producers have created documentaries that ask critical questions about injustice... Nov 1, 2024 11 min read The 4 I's of Oppression: How Critical Literacy Is the Bedrock of Homeplace Living in childhood without a sense of home, I found a place of sanctuary in “theorizing,” in making sense out of what was happening.... Nov 1, 2024 6 min read PARTNER WITH EVC HOST A SCREENING IMPACT SINCE 1984 STORIES & SCOOPS Play Subscribe

Cynthia Copeland (she/her) Senior Media Education Specialist Cynthia is adjunct faculty and supervising instructor in the department of Teaching and Learning at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University. As an educator and public historian, her interest and work in the politics and impact of race and racism in the United States, is multi-modal, extending her experiences as a culturally responsive and social justice educator, progressive education advocate, museum consultant, education curator, and interpretive specialist to diverse cultural and educational institutions and organizations across the United States. The social justice issue she cares about most is ethnic-racial socialization, the impact in individual's lives and its omnipresence within racialized social systems, because such lenses have ways of shaping understandings of the self, communities and how people relate to one another. What Cynthia loves about working at EVC is the commitment to student-centered experiential learning. (ella) Especialista Superior en Educación de Medios Cynthia es profesora adjunta e instructora supervisadora en el departamento de Enseñanza y Aprendizaje de la Escuela Steinhardt de Cultura, Educación y Desarrollo Humano de la Universidad de Nueva York. Como educadora e historiadora pública, su interés y trabajo en la política y el impacto de la raza y el racismo en los Estados Unidos es multimodal, ampliando sus experiencias como educadora culturalmente receptiva y de justicia social, defensora de la educación progresista, consultora de museos, curadora educativa y especialista interpretativa de diversas instituciones y organizaciones culturales y educativas en los Estados Unidos. El tema de justicia social que más le preocupa es la socialización étnico-racial, el impacto en la vida de los individuos y su omnipresencia dentro de los sistemas sociales racializados, porque tales perspectivas tienen formas de moldear la comprensión del yo, las comunidades y cómo las personas se relacionan entre sí. Lo que a Cynthia le encanta de trabajar en EVC es el compromiso con el aprendizaje experiencial centrado en el estudiante. Las personas que no me conocen deben saber que: ¡Mi caso de polidactilia sólo se nota cuando lo señalo!

PROGRAMS EVC’s student-centered programs place students’ own questions, problems, and community experiences at the center of their learning. Students strengthen their skills in documentary arts, critical literacy, civic engagement, and social emotional learning. Young people are transformed by this creative learning process, just as the community is transformed by viewing the media they create. YOUTH DOCUMENTARY WORKSHOP A credit-bearing after school film production and leadership program Young people learn to collaboratively film, edit, and produce award-winning documentary films about social justice issues that are impacting their lives, communities, and society as a whole. Students earn credits towards graduation and get access to paid internship and mentorship opportunities. MORE INFO NEW MEDIA ARTS APPRENTICESHIP A credit-bearing after school multimedia production and work-based learning program Students learn to collaboratively design websites, shoot photographs, and ‘remix’ documentaries from EVC’s archive of youth-produced social justice films. Youth earn credits towards graduation and receive paid summer jobs and mentorship opportunities. MORE INFO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS A credit-bearing in-school youth instruction and teacher-training program Both students and teachers learn how to collaboratively film, edit, and produce documentary films about social justice issues that are impacting their lives, communities, and society as a whole. Through training institutes and in-class coaching, teachers learn teaching strategies and practical skills to integrate student-led media production into their classes. MORE INFO YUDA Credible Educators CREDIBLE EDUCATORS We recruit, train, mentor and connect BIPOC, queer, working-class, and immigrant educators to teaching artist jobs , fostering a diverse teaching community for students to learn from teachers with shared experiences. MORE INFO YOUTH UP DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE The world’s first digital archive of its kind, featuring youth-produced social justice documentary films, housing over 41 years' worth of EVC films . YUDA is intended to be available for a wide range of audiences. MORE INFO WE ARE ALL CONNECTED An urban rural summer exchange and documentary production program Young people from NYC and Appalachia live, work, and learn together to collaboratively produce documentary films and websites about social justice issues impacting their lives and communities to help bridge the urban rural divide. MORE INFO PARTNER WITH EVC CONTACT US EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY In our classrooms, we are all learners and teachers. Our approach combines critical thinking, documentary storytelling, and social justice. Developed in collaboration with generations of young people producing documentaries, our teaching practices invite young people to realize their own power, tell stories, expose injustices, take and inspire action. Our methodology is rooted in: Paolo Friere’s popular education model and critical pedagogy , which intentionally centers young people who are systemically marginalized so that they can interrogate the power structures and systems which oppress them. Participatory Action Research so that the filmmaking is a democratic process -- our students choose the issues that impact their lives, and determine how these stories are told. Culturally Responsive Teaching that seeks to uphold all aspects of our students’ cultures - from belonging to the Beyhive to being Boricua.

RAELENE HOLMES Born & Raised: Harlem First EVC Project: Life Under Suspicion (Doc Workshop, Fall 2012) Current Occupation: Media educator, EVC Education: AA, Liberal Arts, New Media Technology, LaGuardia Community College; BA, Theater, Herbert H. Lehman College Films: Life Under Suspicion, 2012 Beyond Bullying, 2012 Breathing Easy, 2013 Raelene's Story Raelene was born in Harlem and has lived there in the same apartment with her family her entire life. After dropping out of high school, she enrolled in a GED program in 2012. Her advisor recommended she apply for an internship with EVC’s Youth Doc Workshop (YDW). Her YDW group’s first project was documenting the details and impacts of the NYPD’s notorious stop-and-frisk policy. The resulting film was Life Under Suspicion: Youth Perspectives on NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk Policy. Raelene at first had been shy in the workshop, since it was her first ever internship, but she learned a lot of technical skills and began to find the power of her voice. After the workshop ended, Raelene knew she wanted to return the next semester to advance her skills and continue to grow. The next semester her YDW team, after discussing many possible topics, chose to focus on the plight of Raelene’s family. The film the young people produced, Breathing Easy, depicted the story of the toxic mold in her family’s apartment, its impact on their health, including asthma, and their fight with the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to get the apartment fixed. Through that project, she met community environmental activists from WEAct, who invited her to screen her film at their conference on housing rights. Breathing Easy was also shown in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control Museum’s exhibition “Health Is a Human Right.” Leveraging the film to make change, EVC screened Breathing Easy for the New York City Council and eventually gained support on the issue from New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Under this pressure, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) relented and agreed in 2015 to renovate the family’s apartment. The apartment was mold-free for a while but again fell into disrepair due to the NYCHA’s neglect, and the mold returned. The fight continues. After her second semester at EVC Raelene passed her GED exam. She could have moved on, but she returned to EVC for a third semester. Her group produced Beyond Bullying. Interviewing her friend for this film helped her understand how the trauma he experienced from childhood abuse laid the groundwork for him to bully others. Raelene carried her experience and growth at EVC out into the world. After EVC, Raelene worked for Deep Dish TV’s Waves of Change program, where she taught girls how to create interactive websites on community issues. She went on to study new media technology at LaGuardia Community College and eventually, in 2020, received a BA in theater from Lehman College. She has taught film and media production at a variety of New York City organizations, and in 2016 EVC was proud to hire her to work principally with justice-involved youth at the Harlem NeON Arts, a program of the NYC Department of Probation. Raelene continues to work for EVC, and can often be seen MCing our screenings. Favorite EVC Project: “Life Under Suspicion. It was completely hands on. I learned everything technical I needed to know on that project. I wasn’t really into politics before that, but that film taught me who is in charge of what. This made me interested in fighting social injustices.” Proudest Youth Media Moment: "Of course I’m going to say, San Francisco, when I flew out there for the Media for a Just Society Award for Life Under Suspicion. I didn’t think something like a little internship at a small nonprofit would get me out of the city to see another part of the country! It was exciting and refreshing. Especially since that was my first time flying." Advice to the Next EVC Generation: "Even when you’re feeling burned out and like nothing is progressing, you have to remind yourself that there is a message that needs to be received by your audience. In order to create change, a just society, in order to raise awareness, you need to speak up and show your audience why policies need to change."

The Youth Documentary Workshop is the Educational Video Center’s award-winning signature program that has been preparing students for active community engagement, successful media careers and college since 1984. WE'RE ALL CONNECTED We Are All Connected (WAC) is EVC’s urban-rural summer exchange and documentary program. We Are All Connected (WAC), brings together young people from New York City and Appalachia to live, work, and learn together to collaboratively produce documentary films and websites about social justice issues that impact their lives and bridge the urban-rural divide. EVC’s Appalachian partnership dates back to the mid 1980’s when EVC first held urban-rural youth video summer camps in Eastern Tennessee. In 2017, EVC revived these summer camps with our original partners. Youth that have completed a previous EVC program are eligible to participate in WAC. Through the program, New York City and Tennessee students have chosen to turn their cameras on systemic issues personally relevant to them, including broadband access, the opioid epidemic, foster care, and most recently water quality. Both communities end off with a video that is a powerful tool to foster dialogue locally and visibility nationally on critical issues. Through We Are All Connected, youth in urban and rural communities find shared values, learn how much they have in common, and how interconnected their communities really are. Want to learn more? Simply fill out the form below, or email Mary Grueser , Deputy Director, Programs. PARTNER WITH EVC CONTACT US RECENT PROJECTS

Ines Morales (she/her) Program Manager, Youth Media Arts Ines Morales is an EVC alum, she joined EVC while in high school. She had the opportunity to experience EVC as a student, a media instructor, board member and now a program manager for the Youth Documentary Workshop and New Media Arts program at EVC. What sparked her interest in EVC was her interest in social justice issues that affected black and brown people in her community. Her experience at EVC encouraged her to pursue a degree in filmmaking from City College of New York where she earned her BFA. Later she decided to combine her passion for social justice and filmmaking by pursuing a degree in social work concentrating on community organizing and development; she obtained her MSW from Hunter College. Prior to her current position at EVC she worked as a clinical director at a supportive housing facility for adults who were experiencing homelessness, substance use conditions, mental health conditions, and other medical conditions. (ella) Administradora de Artes Juveniles Mediáticas Inés Morales es egresada de EVC. Se unió a EVC mientras estaba en la escuela preparatoria. Tuvo la oportunidad de conocer a EVC como estudiante, instructora de medios, miembro de la junta y ahora gerente de programa para el Taller Documental Juvenil y el programa Nuevas Artes Mediáticas en EVC. Lo que despertó su interés en EVC fue su interés en los problemas de justicia social que afectan a las personas negras e indígenas de su comunidad. Su experiencia en EVC la animó a obtener una licenciatura en cine del Colegio de la Ciudad de Nueva York, donde obtuvo su licenciatura. Más tarde, decidió combinar su pasión por la justicia social y el cine al obtener una licenciatura en trabajo social concentrándose en la organización y el desarrollo de la comunidad; obtuvo su maestría de Hunter College. Antes de su puesto actual en EVC, trabajó como directora clínica en un centro de vivienda de apoyo para adultos que estaban sin hogar, y enfrentando condiciones del uso de sustancias, condiciones de salud mental y otras condiciones médicas.

INES MORALES Born & Raised: The Bronx First EVC Project: Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud (Doc Workshop, Fall 2005) Current Occupation: Program Manager, Youth Documentary Workshop and New Media Arts, EVC Education: BFA in Film and Video, City College of NY; MA in Community Organizing, Planning & Development – Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter, 2014 Films: Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud, 2005 Still Standing: Hurricane Katrina, 2005 Ines' Story Ines Morales is a Latina native of the South Bronx. Her Puerto Rican mother and Ecuadorian father taught Ines to be proud of her heritage and identity and to value hard work as the pathway to great things. For Ines, growing up in the South Bronx was a rich and complex experience. She saw both the negative and positive aspects of her community. She remembers walking up to her fourth-floor apartment and encountering drug users shooting up in the hallway, needles covering the stairway, and her mother constantly warning her to not touch anything—especially the needles. Ines also remembers happy times, enjoying their inflatable indoor pool, nights out on the fire escape, and hot summers playing in the “pump” (fire hydrant). To Ines, all of these things, the good and the bad, were normal parts of her life. Ines didn't realize that her community was facing so many disparities until, as a teenager, she joined a youth activist group called A.C.T.I.O.N (Activist Coming To Inform Our Neighborhood), which taught her how to organize for change and to understand the power she had to improve her neighborhood. Ines brought these experiences with her when joined EVC as a high school senior. She had never considered filmmaking but a counselor at A.C.T.I.O.N. suggested it. She was very excited to learn filmmaking. She co-created Sometimes the Silence Can Seem So Loud, a video on teen suicide. During the production process she became particularly interested in editing. For her next film, Ines worked with five other youth to create Still Standing, an award-winning documentary about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. During production, she traveled to New Orleans to shoot and to engage in community service there. EVC showed Ines that activism can be creative, and she credits her work on Still Standing with opening her up to the world. Ines went on to work on EVC’s partnership with Black Entertainment Television (BET) on their Youth Vote Campaign. BET hired six EVC youth producers to create shorts encouraging young people to get out and vote. From there she attended City College, earning a BFA in film and video. Ines believes her time at EVC gave her an advantage in college: EVC showed her how to be a leader and to work with others. Ines eventually earned a Masters in social work from Hunter College, with the goal of using her degree to help communities tell their own stories for social change. Ines currently works as the clinical director of a congregate supportive housing facility. From time-to-time, she continues to work at EVC as a media coach. Most notably, she recently co-taught an EVC program at Harlem NeON, an alternative-to-incarceration initiative. Favorite EVC Project: "Definitely Still Standing. The topic was relevant and I learned so much. I learned how to work with different people. It also took me out of my comfort zone. When we went to New Orleans after Katrina we had to sleep in an abandoned school in a communal situation and it was weird to me with coed bathrooms and outdoor showers but afterwards I relaxed into it and realized what an amazing experience it was. My last year of college I decided to do a short documentary study program in India for a month. Because of my experience with EVC, I was able to handle new and different situations in India much better than a lot of my classmates." Proudest Youth Media Moment: "I think it would be when “Still Standing” won the Jury award for the Media that Matters Film Festival. I didn’t know how important this festival was until after we won. I really felt like a professional – the other films there were from all over the country and most of the films were by adults. And at EVC we had control over our project. When I think about it now, I realize “Wow, that’s a great accomplishment!” YO-TV was just an internship. I didn’t think it would go that far. And now it’s been all around."

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WE'RE HIRING Looking to make a change in the lives of young people? Have a passion for storytelling at the intersection of social-justice and equity? Then EVC is the place for you! OPEN POSITIONS Youth Media Documentary Film Instructors Associate Director of Development