photo: Clarity/ BY-NC-SA

In a recent Youth Media Reporter article, Deborah Boldt discusses the introduction of media and video in her organization, Reel Fathers.

Reel Fathers is an organization which focuses on the relationship between fathers and young children, teens, and incarcerated fathers and their families, using film screenings and facilitated dialogue as reflective tools to promote better father-child relationships. As research from the National Fatherhood Initiative indicates, 24 million children (one in three) live absent from their father. These young people are two to three times more likely to be poor, to use drugs, to experience educational, health, emotional and behavioral problems, to be victims of child abuse, and to engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological (or adoptive) parents.

We realized that our efforts were not reaching teens enough, despite the range of community partnerships we had in northern and central New Mexico. We wondered if youth media could be an effective way to help young people explore the highly-charged, sensitive subject of fathers. Yet we were concerned that if we asked young people to create films around the theme of fatherhood, they would see the topic as too traditional or painful and thus, not participate. The outcome was quite the opposite, and transformed our approach to the teens and constituents we serve.

For the full article, click here.