The Right Path

This is a documentary about what happens when young people do have the opportunity to get a summer job or be a part of a summer job training program. It captures intimate stories of youth who got into trouble with the law early in life. We find out about the life changing importance of mentoring and the power of caring adults.

The Right Path is an especially timely story today with black youth unemployment nationwide hovering around 25%, which is not improving. As shown in the video, it's clearly beneficial to provide productive activities and employment for young people, which is what they need and ask for, in order to prepare them to be responsible, contributing citizens. It is also more cost effective, when the long view is considered, due to the high cost of prison, the juvenile justice system, drug-related matters, teen pregnancy, or worse, bodily harm or death -- all risks when young people get on a wrong path or are not properly engaged. Lack of jobs and training for young people can also contribute to continuing the cycle of intergenerational poverty, which is damaging to families and individuals.

This entire project was funded through RochesterWorks! (John Premo) to ArtPeace, Inc. (Kristin Rapp, Executive Dir.), as a part of their Creative Entrepreneurs program, where low-income youth from throughout Monroe County are employed to start businesses collaboratively in the arts, including multimedia & animation, music production & recording, and video production.

The project was lead by veteran Broadcaster/TV Producer Richard J. McCollough. The crew was composed of 12 young apprentices from the inner city. Their ages ranged from 14-20.

McCollough took them through the rugged 6 week course and exposed them to the professional way of creating a film product. Apprentices learned storyboarding, writing, videography, lighting, sound, editing and more!

ArtPeace, Inc. is manager/operator of the new Downtown Youth Arts Initiative, called The Cypher, to address concerns with youth at The Liberty Pole in Rochester. They also offer a number of in school and out of school programs for youth to educate and employ them through arts, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Contact Kristin Rapp, Executive Director, for more information - kris@artpeace.org; www.artpeace.org