The Power of Video & Grassroots Advocacy: Using Media To Organize Adult Home Residents & Get Foster Teens Adopted

Submitted by Adopting Teens ... on Sat, 03/28/2009 - 9:57pm
Short Description: 

Can video really advance social change? Just ask You Gotta Believe and the Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled (CIAD), two organizations that have used video to strength their advocacy work and counter mainstream media's fleeting, distorted and often denigrated treatment of the communities they serve.

You Gotta Believe, an older teens adoption agency, has produced over 300 episodes of the "Adopting Teens & 'Tweens Show" on Brooklyn Community Access Television. The program seeks to unite teens with families while clarifying misconceptions about older teens and the foster care system. For the past 5 years, CIAD has used video to educate and empower nursing home and adult home residents to assert their individual rights, organize their residencies and lobby for reforms at the state level. Representatives from both organizations will present their approach to video and advocacy, and then demonstrate tried-and-true production activities to create truly effective video.

Presenters
Presenter One Name: 
Pat O'Brien
Presenter One Info: 

Pat O'Brien is the Founder and Executive Director of You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption & Permanency Movement, Inc. He has produced "The Adopting Teens and 'Tweens Show" since November 2001. Pat also hosts a live radio broadcast every Sunday night on the same subject.

Presenter Two Name: 
Chester Jackson
Presenter Two Info: 

Chester is the Associate Executive Director of You Gotta Believe and the co-producer of the "Adopting Teens and Tweens" TV show.

Presenter Three Name: 
Jennifer Stearns
Presenter Three Info: 

Jennifer Stearns started the CIAD Media Team in 2004, working with adult home resident leaders and CIAD staff organizers to develop production policies and activities that would put adult home residents both behind and in front of the camera. Over the past five years, the Media Team has produced twenty videos on adult home issues. The videos are screened for residents inside adult homes, and for agency officials and policy makers outside of the homes. Stearns came to CIAD after a 19-year career as a staff video editor at NBC Network News.

Presenter Four Name: 
Woody Wilson
Presenter Four Info: 

Woody Wilson is President of CIAD's Board of Directors, a member of CIAD's Policy Committee, and has participated in numerous Media Team productions. Wilson has served many terms as president of the Resident Council at Palisade Gardens Adult Home in Yonkers, New York.

Presenting organization: 
CIAD and You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption & Permanency Movement, Inc.