Beyondmedia is introducing a powerful collaboration with the Dreamcatcher Foundation, an organization founded by two formerly incarcerated women who have spent much of their lives involved in the sex trade, Stephanie Daniels-Wilson and Brenda Myers-Powell. Dreamcatcher works with girls, aged 12-18, who live in Chicago's Englewood community who are at high risk for incarceration and sexual exploitation.

Using the creative process to generate a safe space for reflection, participants are creating a video in their own voices and of their own determination. The girls will take on the impressive task of using this video to organize other girls and young women to generate community dialogue and actively engage others around issues that young women in this neighborhood face every day.

The Dreamcatcher workshops began in February 2009 and the young women are in the early stages of idea development and production. They are exploring various creative means to tell their stories including: personal interviews, video diaries, photography, autobiographical skits and journaling.

Half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. occur among people ages 25 and younger, but no national platform currently educates young people on preventing the virus. To address this issue, community leaders Howard Brown Health Center, Beyondmedia Education and About Face Theatre joined forces to produce Condom Sense: A Real Life Education. This innovative sex-ed program was created in collaboration with Chicago youth living with HIV.

"HIV: Hey, It's Viral!" is a groundbreaking sex-positive 20-minute video from Beyondmedia Education addressing HIV/AIDS prevention and activism from youth perspectives. The video shows young people what HIV is, how it is transmitted, and how it can be prevented - all spun with a fun soundtrack and entertaining animations to illustrate the science of HIV/AIDS. Focusing on risk reduction, safer sex practices and the importance of testing, the movie stresses the idea that anyone can get HIV, and everyone can help prevent it.

The HIV: Hey It's Viral DVD includes the 20 minute video, plus extra bonus features that explain in depth the biology of HIV, how to use a condom, how to get tested for HIV, as well as individual personal stories of young people living with HIV. Other features include a workbook for educators, an action guide for activists, educational visual aids and more. Purchase it online.

Beyondmedia was hired by IALHEA to produce a feature documentary, "Storming the Gates". While national ideology promoted equal opportunity as a banner of Americanism, for much of this country's history admission of African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans to the country's major academic institutions was gained only through hard fought, grassroots collaborations of students and community leaders. This documentary of historical accounts meant to pass on the legacy of struggle to younger generations while inspiring concern and action to preserve the gains that today are being threatened.

Watch a sample clip of "Storming the Gates".

Photos from the Chain of Change Youth Summit!

The Chain of Change project organized over 20 groups of youth activists across the state of Illinois to individually and collectively strategize how to end violence against women and girls. Giving these groups access to flip video cameras, Beyondmedia challenged the groups to think about their own roles in this struggle and to create short video segments to be uploaded to the Chain of Change website.

The website serves as a platform to facilitate discussion around the topics and issues the videos address and serves to strengthen the bonds between the participants and to raise awareness of violence against women and girls, in all its complexity. Now in its second year, the Chain of Change project is being led by a youth leadership committee which will determine the next step and direction of the project in 2009.

Beyondmedia partnered with youth media producers and the Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation (CESO) to create a multimedia toolkit on issues facing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer / Questioning (LGBTQ) youth in Illinois public schools. "Can LGBTQ + School = Safe?" focuses on sexuality-based discrimination and anti-gay violence towards these students and shows them how to start a Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) in their school.

Visit the Can LGBTQ + School = Safe? Website

Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance is an interactive website that makes visible women's experiences in the criminal justice system and offers information, strategies and actions that challenge the ways that the system reproduces discrimination, exploitation, and civil injustices in the treatment of women and their families. Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance is comprised of oral narratives in audio and transcription forms, creative writing and essays by currently and formerly incarcerated mothers and their children, images, scholarly articles, and links to sites, reports and resources on women's incarceration already available on the internet. More than half of the contributions come from women in the prison system. A Site for Resistance is the first comprehensive internet resource speaking out and organizing against the incarceration of women and girls. Visit Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance and participate!

Over the course of a week, Firebelly Design chose Beyondmedia's Women and Prison project for their annual summer camp program, where 10 designers worked to create a full-color 30 page zine. You can purcahse copies of the zine and poster through our catalogue. A huge thank you to Firebelly for your support!