housing

Louis Massiah is the founder and executive director of the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia, a media arts organization that provides low-cost workshops and equipment access to emerging video and filmmakers and community organizations. He is an independent filmmaker who has produced and directed a variety of award-winning documentary films for public television.

Known for his explorations of civil rights themes and crises in the African-American community, his credits include two films in the Eyes on the Prize II series and The Bombing of Osage Avenue, about the burning of a black section of Philadephia as a result of the police bombing of the headquarters of the group MOVE. He is also the director of W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices. Massiah has received awards from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the the National Black Programming Consortium, the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters, the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and several Emmy award nominations. In 1996, he was a recipient of a five year John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship. His current project, Haytian Stories, examines the complex relationship between the United States and Haiti over the last 200 years.

Courtenay Cannady is a writer, producer and public relations practitioner who develops multimedia materials that foster understanding among diverse peoples.

Perlson began making documentary and experimental video in Philadelphia in the late 1980's. She is a founding member of the Termite TV Collective, an ongoing swarm devoted to the creation of alternative media. Her award-winning collective and individual work has been broadcast on PBS and cable, exhibited nationally in museums including MOMA (NYC) and the New Museum, and shown at a wide range of festivals. She has an MFA in Film/Media Arts from Temple University, and has taught at the university level for the past decade. She is currently a mother/artist in Medford, MA, where her life sequences between family, community, art and teaching is always subject to interruption.

<"http://www.peoplewithaids.org">We the People Living with AIDS of the Delaware Valley is the only Philadelphia-based organization created and run by people living with HIV disease and AIDS. This organization serves as the major link to the larger medical and social services for the growing number of people with HIV/AIDS, many of whom are disenfranchised because of their own behavior or because of discrimination based on race, mental illness, substance abuse, income status, sexual preferences, lifestyles, etc. We The People does this by offering practical support services that our target population tells us that they need: diagnostic and medical services, meals, clothing, social connections, peer and professional substance abuse and mental health counseling and referrals, culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS risk reduction education, referrals to other services, and now a housing and recovery house.

Janet Williams works as a digital video artist and graphic designer in the Philadelphia area.

Cindy Wong has been a production facilitator for other Scribe projects including Face to Face and To the Point.

Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) is a covenant among Camden-area congregations to work together through collective action in addressing the many problems facing families and congregations in the city.

The United Hands Community Land Trust has dissolved in the years since the video was completed.

Toni Cade Bambara authored two short story collections, Gorilla, My Love and The Seabirds Are Still Alive; a novel, The Salt Eaters; and a collection of fiction, essays, and conversations, Deep Sightings and Rescue Missions (all of which are available from Vintage Books). A noted documentary filmmaker and screenwriter, Bambara taught writing workshops at Scribe for many years and collaborated on numerous productions. Her film work includes the documentaries "The Bombing of Osage Avenue" and "W.E.B. Du Bois: A Biography in Four Voices." She died in 1995.

Chris Emmanoulides is Director of Programming at Banyan Productions where he oversees over 170 episodes of reality-based television programming. He is also co-founder of Parallax Pictures, an independent film and television production company whose focus is on commercial, documentary, and feature filmmaking. He co-produced and photographed The Ad and the Ego, an hour-length documentary on the impact of advertising on contemporary culture, which took first prize in its category at the 40th annual San Francisco International Film Festival in 1997 and is currently in international distribution.

His other films -- including Remains (1993), Suelto! (1989), A Border Crossing (1988) -- have screened at numerous international film festivals including Sundance, AFI and Margaret Mead. Chris is also an advisor on many independent productions and has served on the Advisory Council of the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association (PIFVA). He continues to work as a cameraman on a select number of independent documentary projects and teaches 16mm production at The Scribe Video Center, a community based media arts center in Philadelphia.

Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia builds and rehabilitates houses and neighborhoods by providing simple, decent, affordable homes in partnership with families in need. In March 2003, Habitat Philadelphia formed through the merger of four independent city affiliates, including the West Philadelphia branch of Habitat for Humanity, which co-produced this video. Before the merger, those affiliates had completed a total of 106 houses in a little over 15 years.