Awarded Grants

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the launch of an independent news website of bilingual (English, Spanish, and/or Portuguese) investigative stories in the form of articles and videos. Working in collaboration with Philadelphia Latinx, immigrant, and communities of color, each story will be culturally competent with rigorous journalistic standards to expand the coverage of diverse and timely stories told by and for the community.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support a partnership between Philadelphia Young Playwrights and the Philadelphia Photo Arts Center to facilitate a three-pronged digital storytelling program which combines monologues and photos of personal narratives of Philly youth, detailing their COVID-19 and civil unrest experiences, to create digital short stories.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support Facebook Live broadcasts staffed daily by Chester community locals to discuss critical issues facing the community, give voice to the residents, connect people with resources, provide health guidelines, promote community initiatives, and showcase the assets of this underrepresented neighborhood.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the production of a mini series, working title: “COVID-19 Season and Beyond,” that explores how the pandemic has exacerbated long-existing social inequities and economic disparities that primarily impact Black and Brown communities.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the disParities Media Project, a pilot media-making project that exposes the structural inequities affecting families with children in Norristown and Pottstown, where over 50% of the residents are Black and Brown. In partnership with ACLAMO and The Urban League, Children First will amplify the stories and lived experiences of these communities in search of justice and change.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support a virtual rendition of Theatre in the X's “West Philly Play,” a social justice people's theatre. Via community play sessions on Zoom, stories will be shared by individuals involved in the 52nd Street standoff with police following the uprisings sparked by the murder of George Floyd. Community members will share their experiences with the gentrification of their neighborhoods. These videos will be recorded and be available publicly on Theatre in the X's website and will also serve as research for the creation of a 2021 in-person “West Philly Play.”

The 2020 Community Voices Fund grant will support Big Picture Alliance's Via Lux Teen Media program, a youth-led collective that produces films about important stories shaping the lives of young people and engages the public through screenings, broadcasts, social media, and an annual film fest.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the creation of the Coatesville Black Media Renaissance (CBMR) project, which will use storytelling and media-making to heal and reconcile race relations in the city of Coatesville. Specifically, CMBR will provide local artists and storytellers a vehicle to amplify community voices through a variety of media platforms such as film, print media, and mural arts to create a community driven media model that activates change against unjust media narratives, policing, and other racist practices that continue to marginalize Coatesville residents.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the disParities Media Project, a pilot media-making project that exposes the structural inequities affecting families with children in Norristown and Pottstown, where over 50% of the residents are Black and Brown. In partnership with ACLAMO and The Urban League, Children First will amplify the stories and lived experiences of these communities in search of justice and change.

The 2020 Community Voices grant will support the launch of an online journal for essential discourse that connects media and media-making to historic and contemporary movements for social change. This journal will predominantly feature content guided and created by Black, Brown, Latinx and/or Indigenous artists and community organizers.