My Source Videos
Christine Adrian
Christine Adrian teaches at Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, Illinois. She uses the radio series on desegregation, “More than a Bus Ride,” produced by students in WILL’s Youth Media Workshop, in her classroom. WILL is Christine’s source for “Connecting youth to their local community.”
Youth Media Workshop
For more than five years, WILL has been empowering African-American middle school and high school students to make media—and change. They’ve learned to interview, record, edit and produce content for radio, TV and Web. They’ve done stories on desegregation, the Douglass Center Drum Corps, hip-hop music, and people who’ve influenced their lives. The Youth Media Workshop is a joint project of WILL and Dr. William Patterson of the University of Illinois.
Hoopeston Youth Project
WILL worked with the Prairie Center Health Systems, Inc., Hoopeston schools and the City of Hoopeston to address the issue of substance abuse and to create positive opportunities for the youth of Hoopeston. The results: a teen-led community wide town hall meeting; news reports on AM 580; an in-school Big Brother-Big Sisters mentoring program; a Mayor’s Youth Council; expanded hours of an alcohol-free place for older teens to socialize.
Book Mentors
WILL’s Book Mentors, an early literacy project, brings community volunteer readers, free books and Head Start families together. Kids look forward to the Book Mentor visits and the free book they get to take home each month. Teachers value the educational impact. And families spend more time together with books. The Book Mentor project is currently serving 578 central Illinois families.
