knife away he thought that we
overstepping and so next time when he
sees someone pull out a knife or
anything he’s going to think back to
Barnard and he’s going to ask to take it
away and that really that feedback was
great to me because it showed that one
story can have an impact and it pushed a
reader at least one to to think of ways
that they could be proactive and make a
change in the cycle of violence and how
we also engage our readers as we’ve
offered these training workshops and
eight years ago when we started we
opened with one hour lesson and these
were great they brought people together
and we had conversation and they learn
some skills but how many stories do you
think we got published after people
attended I mean they really fell short
no one after one hour lesson contributed
a piece that was ready to be published
and that’s the goal was to get community
involved and the residents contributing
so we revamped our design and we offered
full-day workshops where we would take a
participant and pair them with a
journalism professor or a graduate
reporting student to be their mentor
we’d have the lesson then they’d go out
on assignment they’d have that support
system with them the person could help
them get their interview started and
then sit back and let them work we’d all
come back have lunch talk about their
stories and they’d sit to write then we
would work with them and edit their
piece we get photos uploaded and we post
it online
and then one afternoon they’d become
list writer and with this full full day
workshop idea the most popular has
become our photo workshop and we call
this our photo walk and each summer one
Saturday in July we have a photo lesson
and then we go out and take a walk
through the neighborhood and document a
typical day on the south side and photos
and they are most popular that’s brings
in the biggest crowd but I see the real
success in the photo walk is in the
range of people that participate
the different ages different skill
levels and from different areas
geographically we have young kid the
senior citizens we have professional
photographers that volunteer their time
and leave the walk and then we have
hobbyist and amateur photographers that
come to the neighborhood is a new photo
place to explore and capture images and
then residents participate and people
that even have never owned a camera will
come and will loan them one for the day
and one question that I’m always asked
is as we go out as a group what is the
community going to think of us I mean
are they going to be okay with us
sticking our cameras in their faces I
mean aren’t we going to be seen as
intrusive and they’re always pleasantly
surprised to see how welcoming the
community is residents will pose for us
and make silly faces and invite us up
onto their porches we capture family
portraits I can show you year after year
some of the same families documented we
can get kids playing in the park going
around just families hanging out at
their house on a typical Saturday
businesses have also welcomed us in
sorry and letting us when barbershop
lets us file through every year
capturing their clients getting their
hair cut and the great thing about the
photo walk is I see two things one is
just the sheer number of photos were
able to capture images of families
images of kids playing touching moments
with families images that are not
typically seen in mainstream media or
other outlets just a typical day in the
neighborhood
and also how we can engage with our
readers we go to them directly we can
meet them on their own turf casually
talk about what was their favorite story
in the years past or what kind of
stories they want to see in the future
and this is my for the paper to always
have the audience in mind and what has
become a favorite feature of the stand
readers because our fathers matter and
this image really kicked in
one summer instead of doing workshops we
offered a summer long photo series where
we received a grant and we were able to
provide eight professional DSLR cameras
to people who applied and then they were
able to document their summer in photos
and we paired them with professional
photographers who volunteered their time
all summer long to be a mentor and by
the end we offered a gallery exhibit and
we showcased their favorite shots and
one participant came forward to speak at
the reception and she said I’m so happy
to see from so many different
participants images of black dads
engaged being involved spending time
with their children having loving
moments being silly being playful
because this is what she sees in her
daily life she sees her husband to his
kids to his grandchildren her neighbors
and cousins but she said the perception
and the stereotypes that many people
have is that african-american father’s
our absentee dads
they’re not involved they’re deadbeats
and she said I wish more people from
outside of the city were here to see
these images because they fight that
stereotype and so we launched the series
to highlight and spotlight
african-american dads in the community
and we continue the series now with a
monthly Q&A of a father that’s been
nominated by his peers by our readers
and the goal of our paper is to really
write stories that the audience wants to
see and our mission is to be the voice
of the community to reflect back how the
community sees itself in our pages and I
don’t have any fancy graphics or numbers
over time to show you readership I just
know what readers tell me and the
feedback they say that they enjoy
reading the paper and I think our
greatest compliment came one day when
our reader was so inspired by her paper
and so for me to read that our paper
fosters community pride and it’s my
residents feel visible when so often in
the mainstream media that they go
unrepresented or unnoticed tells me that
we’re fulfilling our mission and we’re
doing good journalism thank you [Applause]