SECTION 2: OUR APPROACH

Student- or youth-centered

Wide Angle is youth-centered. Students' needs, experiences, and perspectives are at the forefront of all decision making to create programs that support young people holistically - through education, building life skills and providing career pathways. We aim to create spaces in which media instructors/staff can learn from students, and students can learn from one another. Genuine student relationships are developed and established; learning outcomes are derived from student interests, needs and goals; and students have an active role in learning, leading, and serving. As an organization, we prioritize and keep our focus on the perspectives of young people. Our organizational chart illustrates how we center youth in all aspects of our work.

• Wide Angle is not youth-led: Wide Angle staff, board and leadership, most of whom are adults, make decisions to govern the operations of the organization. When possible, youth help shape the organization by participating in event-planning, developing communications strategies, and engaging in the hiring processes and strategic planning. Students are surveyed throughout the year to include their voice in decision making and Wide Angle continues to open new opportunities for alumni and parents of participants to be engaged for volunteer advisory committees and board service.

• Wide Angle is youth-serving: Youth participate in our programs, and instructors provide opportunities for youth leadership and for youth to take creative lead on their projects. Youth are engaged as collaborators and creative visionaries in the work.

Trauma-Informed Approach

In order to foster classrooms that promote healing, safety, supportive feedback, and relationship building, Wide Angle instructors use a trauma-informed approach. Most people have experienced previous traumas or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s), such as violence, abuse, or neglect; witnessing violence in their home or community; or unstable household environments. Instructors are intentional in their pedagogical decisions, accountable through words and actions used in the classroom, and promote inclusivity, student choice, and consistency.

Assets-Based Lens

We center a strengths-based or assets-based approach. Rather than centering a mindset of “fixing what is wrong”, we focus on building upon the good that is already present. When asked to describe the challenges that many communities in Baltimore face, we emphasize the impact of systemic inequities. For example:

• Under-resourced or under-invested communities: Historical oppressions have shaped our society and denied equal access to all. We use this term to emphasize that many individuals and neighborhoods have been deprived of resources that are deserved (e.g. fair and equal access to housing, high quality public education, infrastructure investments, reliable public transportation). We prefer these terms to underserved, which can imply that someone is waiting to be served by someone else, instead of acknowledging that systematically resources are not allocated equally or equitably. 

• Historically marginalized communities: Recipients of systemic discriminatory policy. Similar to under-resourced communities, the responsibility lies within the system, not on an individual. Many groups have been denied full participation in mainstream cultural, social, political, and economic activities (including, but not limited to, BIPOC communities, women, LGBTQIA+, low-income individuals, disabled people, and senior citizens).

• Historically minoritized communities: Similar to historically marginalized communities, the use of minoritized further emphasizes the power dynamics of making a specific group that may actually be a majority of individuals, but they received minority status (eg: Baltimore City, where over 60% of the population is Black, but wealth and other resource distribution does not reflect that breakdown).

• Words we do not use: Inner city, ghetto, at-risk or at-promise youth, thugs, riots. These words have been manipulated to become the coded language of oppression, used to forward specific political or social agendas. Eg: “Inner City” is not an inherently negative term - it describes a geography or location - but it has become coded language to imply BIPOC/poor city residents or communities, frequently with a negative connotation to advance white supremacy. We do not use the term “youth at risk”, as it focuses on the actions of an individual or generalized group of young people, without directly acknowledging the social systems which oppress them. 

Creative Youth Development

Wide Angle aims to design spaces for youth to have artistic expression rooted in their ideas, stories, dreams, and lived experiences. Workshops are facilitated by media instructors who provide curricula that are responsive to youth interests and also promote soft skills (leadership, teamwork, collaboration, interpreting information, civic engagement). Youth have access to new tools, creative support and mentorship, and are connected to resources for skill building that is hands-on.

Media Literacy

Media shapes almost every aspect of our lives—from the entertainment industry and news outlets to our education system and social media channels. Media literacy is the ability to identify different types of media, critically evaluate, and understand the relationships between media, information, and power. In Wide Angle classrooms, students analyze media, identify implicit biases and learn to extend their critical thinking as they produce their own media. (Adapted from: National Alliance for Media Literacy Education).

Digital Inclusion

Race and income can determine who has access to technology and educational resources. Digital inclusion refers to the efforts to ensure that all individuals and communities, especially historically under-invested communities, have access to opportunities in a digital age. Wide Angle’s work towards digital inclusion includes providing free media education courses, access to online resources, equipping students with devices, and advocating to close the digital divide.  

Apprenticeships & Internships

Apprentices and Interns engage in year-long, paid on-the-job and technical training, and apply their skills to produce media deliverables for community-based clients. (Apprenticeship positions are formally registered at the state and federal level; Internships are not). Apprentices and Interns complete their position with a portfolio/reel, resume, references, and professional development training, that provides them with the technical and professional skills needed for a media career. The media industry is currently predominately white and these workforce training programs are one way that Wide Angle is actively working towards diversifying the media industry.