This spring VFC collaborated with Widener University TV (WUTV) for several weeks. Working with great volunteers from WUTV, VFC members learned how to host, record, and edit live TV. You can now watch some of the great work from this collaboration on YouTube or in the “Our Media” section of this site.

This spring three 2009 VFC members, Ayanah, Dwayne, and Jasmine spent time about once a week to learn from Widener TV’s students. The Widener crew taught VFC how to host a live TV show and edit on the spot, switching between cameras for live TV. It was a great experience for everyone involved, and it was featured in today’s Delaware County Daily Times and a news report at Widener University, What’s Up at Widener.

Yesterday’s meeting at Widener was VFC’s last “official” activity since I’m leaving the Chester area in a few months and no volunteers have emerged to take on the organization of the program. However, a slightly revamped website and (hopefully) a compilation DVD will be ready by mid-August to highlight all of VFC’s work over its two-year history, so stay tuned for that.

For now, here’s a link to some pictures of the VFC crew at WDTV.

If you’re interested in joining VFC at WDTV, send an email to chestervfc@gmail.com to get more information.

Check out the “Our Media” page to see the two latest videos from Voices for Change. “Drama High” is from a new group of youth producers who were the 2010 After School program participants, and “A Lesson Learned” was a collaborative project to create this PSA about substance use and abuse among teenagers.

Check it out at: http://www.refresheverything.com/teamhype09

Already in its fourth week, Chester VFC After School is in full swing. Working with five Chester teens and two dedicated college freshmen, the group will travel to Widener’s TV studio today to continue working on the script for the next VFC movie, due out in late December 2010. The group has completed their scavenger hunts, is getting more comfortable acting, and will soon be filming their final production, hopefully editing and fully producing in December.

In addition, another VFC production is due out this month. The summer/fall collaboration between Team H.Y.P.E., the Chester Youth Collaborative’s Drug Free Communities, and VFC will have a PSA completed by the end of November, so be ready to check that out on YouTube in the near future.

More updates and pictures will come shortly.

The entire 2009 VFC Summer Institute movie, Through Our Eyes, is now on YouTube. You can watch it by clicking here. Watch the first section, here, and then find the continuations on YouTube or the Our Media page of our blog.

If you want to create movies like this or know a Chester teen who does, registration for the VFC After School program will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 12 at Chester City Hall from 4:30-6:30 pm in the Resource Room. Use the entrance off of Rt. 291, and come early because there are only 12 spots, which will be filled on a first come, first serve basis.

Questions? Suggestions? Comments? Post a response on our blog, find “Chester Youth Media Productions” on Facebook, or email chestervfc@gmail.com.

We were finally able to successfully post a video. If you go to the “Our Media” page you can watch it, or find it on YouTube.

If a Chester teen interested in making videos like this or want to learn how, sign up for our afterschool program by filling out this application and returning it Chester City Hall ASAP.

A better update will come later, but VFC is starting an afterschool program this fall with the Department of Recreation.

If you’re interested in participating, check out this information: VFC Afterschool Info & Application

If you’re interested in volunteering as a mentor for the program, please contact me at chestervfc@gmail.com.

I know it’s been a LONG time since our last update, and for that I truly apologize. A few highlights of what VFC has been doing in the last year and where we’re going in the future.

1. Throughout the academic year VFC 2009 participants continued to work on the film, Through Our Eyes. A final version is near completion, and we will hopefully have a debut for that final copy sometime late this summer or early in the fall.

Neia, Dwayne, Ayanah, and Jasmine continue editing in the spring of 2010.

2. We had a Swarthmore College debut of the near-final version of the film in May 2010. Although it wasn’t perfect, there were about 10 Swarthmore students and faculty who came to view the film. Afterward, the VFC participants answered some of the audience’s questions about the film and the program.

VFC at the Swarthmore Debut of Through Our Eyes.

3. Jasmine, Kira, and Dwayne are currently very involved in establishing Team H.Y.P.E., which (remember) stands for H-elping Y-outh P-ositively E-xcel. We’ll do a better update on this in the near future, once things are more concretely established. In case you forgot, Team H.Y.P.E. was started in one of the internships of VFC last summer as a way to engage teens in Chester in positive activities.

They have set up a Team H.Y.P.E. page on Facebook for now, and you should check it out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-HYPE/137366072947142?v=wall#!/pages/Team-HYPE/137366072947142

On a personal note, I am extremely proud of what these teens are doing right now. They spent 2.5 hours on Monday picking up trash in the heat as a way to get started doing something positive in the city. Plus, they continue to look for other community service opportunities and ways to develop a teen lounge in Chester that would allow teens to have a place to go for safe, positive activities. In light of everything that’s happening in Chester right now (see http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100624_Chester_state_of_emergency_extended_amid_controversy.html), the positive work that these young people are doing shows great promise for the future.

4. I am in the process of developing an afterschool portion of VFC, which will hopefully launch in September or October of this year and be established as a living, breathing, functioning collaboration between local college students and the teen producers in Chester.

5.More pictures and updates will come, and hopefully I’ll finally be able to figure out how to get some video online as well. Stay tuned.