MESSAGE MEDIA ED
INNOVATORS UNCOVERED
VISION
To cultivate the capacity in youth, adults and seniors of African descent to skillfully diversify, lead and innovate in the 21st Century community, classroom and workplace.
MISSION
Our mission is to produce Black leadership for the Digital Age. We do this by creating safe and supportive learning environments for cultural healing, leadership development, and skill building in critical media literacy, new media and digial technologies.
EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE
Message Media Ed provides traveling professional development workshops designed to close digital, socioeconomic, cultural and academic divides in the Black community. We recruit predominantly African American participants in our workshops, those whose ancestors were displaced from Africa to America through the transatlantic slave trade and therefore, historically marginalized in the United States. We reconnect participants to African principles, language and heritage, and empower them to use human and technological resources to counter and thrive in a hegemonic culture. Services to the community have been designed to offer informal learning environments to:
1) Deconstruct the ubiquitous influence of media, media messages and media stereotypes,
2) Reconstruct traditional African village mindsets, principles, language, and images, aligning them with authentic African American experiences, contributions, social justice movements and culture,
3) Construct a contemporary sense of community and leadership, skilled to support the successful transition of Black youth from schooling to the global workplace in the Digtal Age.
>> JULY 2010
Social Media: An Overview
A professional development workshop for Black Women's Network
Sat. 7/10, 10am-12:30pm
Veterans Memorial Center
*Closed to the public*
>> JUNE 2010
Rise Above the Noise
An African Centered-Critical Media Literacy Discussion
Sunday, June 27, 2010, 3:00-6pm
_ Vegan Village Internet Cafe
Theme: The Normalization of Failure & Black Inferiority in the Media
$5 donation - Refreshments served
Call 323-708-2526 for RSVP by Wed. June 23rd. Complete details here http://MessageMediaEd.blogspot.com
Tea N Technology
_Black Women for Wellness
3450 W. 43rd St. #104 in Leimert Park
FREE Tech Trainings for Digital Elder graduates and the community
3/26 & 4/9 - Internet Nav & Email
4/23, 4/30 & 5/7 - Social Media
5/21 & 6/4 - Software Basics
6/18 & 6/25 - Online Advocacy
For more info and to RSVP, call Black Women for Wellness _ 323-290-5955 or visit http://www.bwwla.com/index.php?id=282
>> MAY 2010
Commercial Production Workshop _ Crenshaw High w/ Sports Explorers
Thurs. 5/13, 2-4pm
*This is not a public workshop
>>APRIL 2010
A Family Film Screening & Discussion Series
Sunday, April 25, 2010, 3:30-6pm
Theme: Your Health & Global Warming
Call 323-708-2526 for RSVP & private location info. More info here http://MessageMediaEd.blogspot.com
>>MARCH 2010
The Digital Elder Project
"EmPOWER On-line & in the Black Community!"
Sat-Sun, March 20-21
_Urban League West Adams/Baldwin Hills Worksource Center
Visit http://DigitalElder.org for registration and sponsorship info
Staff Computer Training
_ Great Beginnings for Black Babies
3/25 & 3/26 - This is not a public training
DigiVenture presents...
Women Media Makers of Color Symposium _ Otis College
3/8, 7-9pm
Shani Byard-Ngunjiri, Founder/Executive Director, Message Media Ed, Featured Panelist
More info, visit http://DigiVenture.org
Founding Board of Directors
Rae Jones, Executive Director
Great Beginnings for Black Babies
President, Raediant Communications
Rev. Emmett G. Price, Ph.D., Chair
African Studies Dept., Northeastern University
Founder, Black Church Music Ministry Project
Jason 'Brother J' Hunter, Founder, X Clan
Producer, Lyricist
The Hopscotch Element
Spring 2010 Newsletter
In-Home Computer Tutoring
Message Media Ed
TELEPHONE: + 1 323 708 2526
E-MAIL: executiveintern_messagemediaed.org
Shani Byard-Ngunjiri, M.S.
Founder/Executive Director, Message Media Ed
Shani Byard-Ngunjiri is an artist, educator and social justice advocate. She founded Message Media Ed in January of 2008 as a means of combining 4 years of professional experience in music video/TV production with a total of 12 years administering visual and performing arts education, media literacy education, and program development, management and evaluation, both in and out of K-12 public schools. Shani has utilized the tool of creative arts and expression to lead the design and implementation of intervention, career, mentoring and empowerment programming for youth development entities including: Los Angeles Unified School District, Long Beach Unified School District, LA County Office of Education, LA Bridges Gang Intervention, Theatre of Hearts/Youth First, Conservation Corps of Long Beach and Inside Out Community Arts.
Message Media Ed provides culturally relevant, 21st Century learning and professional development for youth, adults and seniors of African descent (including high school dropouts and youth at risk of giving up on their education), as a means of closing digital, cultural, social, academic and economic divides within the Black community, and producing Black leadership for the Digital Age. Offered to the community through Message Media Ed and facilitated by Shani and a team of professionals, The Digital Elder Project, Rise Above the Noise, The Hopscotch Element and other tailored workshops, provide an African-centered approach to skill building in new media, media analysis, technology education and leadership development.
Shani is a proud native of Leimert Park, Los Angeles and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Education at her alma mater, Loyola Marymount University. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Television Production in 1996 and a Masters of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership in 2008 from Springfield College.
HOPSCOTCH ELEMENT
A 10-part, mixed-media, critical thinking and empowerment workshop series, designed specifically for African American high school dropouts and youth at-risk of giving up on their education, ages 14-25. Much like the sidewalk game of HOPSCOTCH - choosing and hurdling over obstacles to complete a path - students draw from and build upon multiple means of communication and creative expression to support the direction of their individual life path. Combining Multi-Media Arts Education, African American Studies & Career Mentoring, participants are empowered with the tools to discover their true potential, self-image and life purpose; taking ownership of choice in innovative, productive and responsible ways. Using the tools of multi-media arts education and project-based learning techniques, participants explore and foster the life and job skills needed to successfully enter and diversify the workforce of the 21st Century. Targeted skill development include: leadership, presentation, problem solving, task completion, critical thinking, collaboration, visioning, and more.
THE DIGITAL ELDER PROJECT
The Digital Elder Project is a traveling leadership/professional development training, designed specifically for youth, adults and seniors of African descent (ages 14-100). It is a unique, interactive, 2-day workshop that combines instruction in basic to advanced computer operation, social media and internet navigation, with African and African American (historical & contemporary) education, exposing participants to technology's relationship to challenges and solutions in the Black community. The DE Project is an opportunity for current and potential leaders, role models and anyone (from any ethnic background) in a position to influence or raise youth of African descent, to learn information, tools and techniques to better engage & prepare Black youth to advance in society.
RISE ABOVE THE NOISE: An African Centered-Media Literacy Workshop
In an effort to create a safe space for cultural healing and shifts in consciousness, we present a Rise Above the Noise. Our purpose is to discuss and critically analyze issues affecting the nationwide black community and the role corporate American media plays in creating those issues. With a goal of identifying healthy solutions, participants practice critical thinking, engage in discourse and become media literate. Issues explored include: politics, high school dropout prevention, religion, sexuality, education, leadership development, nutrition, history, community activism, healthcare and more.
© All images copyrighted by Rafel B - 2008-2010
