Youth Media Workshop
Empowering economically diverse African-American youth from public schools to make media and social change
Kickin’ It at Kickapoo
Ten teens from the Danville Boys and Girls Club will experience Kickapoo State Park and create videos to promote the park among their peers.
Visit the Kickin’ It at Kickapoo Web site.
Kickapoo State Park is only 13.91 miles from the Danville Boys and Girls Club, but for the teens who participate in the club’s activities, it often seems much farther away. The park is across the lake and past an area where wealthier community residents live, said Rickey Williams, executive director of the club. “Many of our young people never go beyond the lake or farther where the park is,” he said.
That’s about to change for a group of 10 African-American participants in the club. The Youth Media Workshop, a project of WILL and William Patterson of the University of Illinois, is partnering with the Danville Boys and Girls Club and other community and university groups to introduce the teens and their families to Kickapoo State Park, and increase awareness among African Americans about the value of Kickapoo.
The partners will teach teens how to use the latest nano video technology and editing software and help them create video public service announcements to persuade other African-Americans of the benefits of the scenic park in their own back yards. Participating are Kickapoo State Park, the U of I College of Media‘s Department of Advertising, the Danville Public Library, Keep Vermilion County Beautiful and the Prairie Rivers Network.
Learning How to Use Media
Using small FLIP video cameras, WILL will teach middle and high school students how to videotape footage of the park and the Advertising Department will teach them how to create a public service announcement to convince their peers that Kickapoo is a fun place to visit. The videos will be posted to a Kickapoo project site on the Youth Media Workshop Web site.
“Our youth are enveloped by media,” Williams said. “This is a great opportunity for them to learn how it comes together, and also to learn about careers in media production and advertising.”
U of I advertising associate professor Michelle Nelson will help the teens conduct a focus group with their peers to see what they think about nature and hiking, and to discover barriers to visiting the park. “Then we’ll analyze the data and create a strategy for encouraging more teens and their families to visit Kickapoo.” Nelson said the advertising industry comes under fire for lack of diversity, so she’s excited to open the eyes of the young people to advertising as a career. Nelson said she’s a huge supporter of Kickapoo, so the project is meaningful to her for that reason, as well.
At the Park
The teens and their families will visit the park for the first time on April 13 for an orientation when they’ll have dinner at Kickapoo Landing, hike and go paddle-boating on the river.
WILL developed the project, Kickin’ It at Kickapoo State Park, in conjunction with Ken Burns’ new PBS series, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, premiering this fall.
“Kickapoo almost closed last year because of the state’s financial struggles,” said Kimberlie Kranich, WILL’s director of community engagement. “Thousands of people demonstrated their support. We wanted to join the effort to protect the park by introducing more people to Kickapoo. The more that people have a direct joyful experience in the park, the more likely they’ll want the park to be there for them and future generations.” Kranich co-directs the Youth Media Workshop with Patterson, who is associate director of the U of I African-American Cultural Center.
The staff at Kickapoo can’t wait to show the kids what a state park is all about, said John Hott, park superintendent. “I hope we can give them a positive experience and create a love of the outdoors that they wouldn’t get from going to a city park,” he said. “We need to encourage young people to come to Kickapoo for the long-term survival of the park.”
Protecting the River
Glynnis Collins, executive director of the Prairie Rivers Network, said the project fits in with her organization’s efforts to protect Illinois’ rivers for the people, fish and wildlife that depend on them. It’s especially important to connect the younger generation to nature, she said. “The path of modern society is working to disconnect them,” Collins said. “Kids are much less connected to nature that my generation or my parents’ generation. They’re inside, watching TV, online.” The river that flows through the park, the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, is the only designated scenic river in Illinois, and is a treasure worth protecting, she said. Staff from the organization will take the teens on an outing to introduce them to the park.
Teens Mentoring Teens
Barb Nolan, director of the Danville Public Library, said she hopes the project will help the library’s efforts to use technology to reach out to teens. “The Danville Boys and Girls Club is very strong in working with teens and we hope we’ll be able to find some teen mentors who want to teach other teens how to produce video,” she said. The library is working to find a pool of teens with technology skills to work with other teens in the Project Next Generation technology mentoring program.
Learning to Enjoy the Outdoors
WILL outreach producer Henry Radcliffe, who will help teach the teens video and editing, said he’s a fan of Kickapoo and looks forward to seeing the kids learn about the woods, streams and trails. “Sometimes because of various barriers, we don’t learn to enjoy something that’s free and close by,” he said.
Funding
WILL’s efforts are being funded by a grant from the PBS Foundation’s Adobe Youth Voices Venture Fund, which will also provide funding for Youth Media Workshop projects in all three Champaign public middle schools this fall. WILL is seeking additional funds for a proposed program featuring the Kickapoo project to be broadcast on WILL-TV.
