Community Visions

To School or Not to School

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Youth United for Change of Woodrock and Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

John Knapich

Year released: 
1993
Length: 
13 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

A youth group from Woodrock, Inc. created this video to explore and document the high rate of school drop-outs among their peers. Students and drop-outs of Edison High School discuss issues of daily concern, such as peer pressure, the desire to earn fast cash, lack of parental involvement, teenage pregnancy and a lack of teacher effectiveness. With so many burdens weighing them down, how do they make a clear-headed decision to school...or not to school?

Filmmaker's Name: 
Woodrock & John Knapich
Filmmaker's Bio: 

Woodrock was originally conceived as a summer camp but within a few years began offering year-round programs by partnering with Philadelphia area schools. Today, Woodrock provides direct program services to over 3,000 youth and offers training and technical assistance to a variety of youth programs throughout the Philadelphia region. The non-profit youth agency committed to the elimination of interracial tension and hostility through programs for youths ages 9 to 18, particularly those based in the Kensington and Fishtown sections of the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John Knapich has been a film editor, writer and director for over fifteen years. He has written five screenplays, including two with Thomas Kelly and has edited documentaries for NFL Films, Lifetime and Fox Television where he won an Emmy for daytime children's programming. His feature film directorial debut, Dog's Life , was shot in Philadelphia, PA. Crafty Web surfers can find samples of his work online at You Tube and Google Video.

Press: 

August 6, 1997 - Brief listing in Philadelphia Weekly

August 8, 1997 - Brief listing in Philadelphia City Paper

August 8, 1997 - Brief listing in Philadelphia Inquirer

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

August 8, 1997 - Street Movies screening at Village of the Arts & Humanities (Philadelphia, PA)

August 23, 1997 - Street Movies screening at Winchester Community Center (Philadelphia, PA)

Women Housing Women

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Produced by the Women's Community Revitalization Project & Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Women's Community Revitalization Project and video facilitator Gretjen Clausing

Year released: 
1992
Length: 
15 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

In this intimate portrait of the women of the Women's Community Revitalization Project (WCRP), a culturally and economically diverse group of tenants, staff and board members speak of their success in developing affordable housing for low-income and formerly homeless women.

Filmmaker's Name: 
Women's Community Revitalization Project
Filmmaker's Bio: 

The Women's Community Revitalization Project (WCRP) is committed to social and economic justice for low-income women and their families. They develop housing and neighborhood facilities; provide supportive services; advocate for policy change; and honor leadership, dignity, and equity in our communities.

WCRP believes that when you start with women, you are at the core of communities and families. There is power in women working together to make change. WCRP has created a model that works for community development, putting that power to work for low-income women and their families.

Gretjen Clausing is an independent media programmer and activist, who has made her home in Philadelphia since 1989. Prior to joining Scribe's staff in September 2004, she was the Program Director of Film at the Prince. She is a founding member of the Philadelphia Coalition for Public Access, a grassroots group that has been working since 1999 to get public access television activated in Philadelphia. She has worked at Scribe as a part-time facilitator since 1990. She joined Scribe as Program Director in 2004 and was the Producer of the NAMAC conference in 2005.

Press: 

February 8, 1993 - "Expressing Themselves," by Ann Kolson, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Teens on Sex

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Youth Health Empowerment Project and Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Dina Mendros and Roxana Walker-Canton

Year released: 
1998
Length: 
18 minutes

An informative look at adolescent sexual health by an eclectic group of Philadelphia teens and teen peer educators of the Youth Health Empowerment Project. The video was collaboratively made with Y-HEP teen volunteers who powerfully deconstruct myths ("You can't get pregnant your first time."), address common concerns, and give useful, experience-based advice to their peers.

Filmmaker's Name: 
The Youth Health Empowerment project, Dina Mendros & Roxana Walker- Canton
Filmmaker's Bio: 

Youth Health Empowerment Project (Y-HEP)is a project of Philadelphia FIGHT that offers a comprehensive range of health promotion and youth development programs using a harm reduction approach to at-risk youth.

Dina Mendros is a member of Temple University's Women's Film & Video Collective and recently completed Temple's Master's program in Anthropology. A former writer for the Philadelphia City Paper, she is currently at work on a video documentary about a New York school for cross-dressing.

Roxana Walker-Canton is a filmmaker, author, professor and television host who currently works as visiting professor of media studies at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.

Press: 

May 7, 1999 - "Film Talks to 'Teens on Sex'", by Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

May 6, 1999 - Part of the Festival of Independents at Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, International House (Philadelphia, PA)

Who Pays? We Pay! : The Cost Of Health Care Fraud

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Produced by Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (CARIE) and Scribe Video Center

Year released: 
1998
Length: 
12:19 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

This video from CARIE's Healthcare Fraud Education Project examines the price older Americans must pay when healthcare fraud -- particularly in the cases of Medicare and Medicaid, government health insurance plans that primarily protect senior citizens -- goes unchecked.

Should you balk when your doctor offers to pay you for every Medicare or Medicaid eligible patient you refer? Why were you billed not once, but twice, for services you never received? What should you say when a friend asks to use your Medicare card?

Filmmaker's Name: 
CARIE
Filmmaker's Bio: 

CARIE, Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly, is a non-profit organization, based in Philadelphia, dedicated to improving the quality of life for vulnerable senior citizens in the Delaware Valley. CARIE'S programs include, The CARIE LINE that includes outreach to the Latino community, The Philadelphia Long Term Care Ombudsman Program, The Providing Advocacy for the Victimized Elderly program, The Education and Training Program, Policy/Legislative Program, Community outreach and special events, and the Health Care Fraud Education Project featured in this documentary. CARIE is a leader in providing direct assistance to the elderly, their families, and professionals in the aging field.

We Hope This Message Is Getting Through

Producer of the Work / Filmmaker: 

Produced by Kensington Action Now, Kensington Area Revitalization Project & Scribe Video Center

Filmmaker Facilitator: 

Kensington Action Now, Kensington Area Revitalization Project & video facilitator Gretjen Clausing

Year released: 
1991
Length: 
16 minutes
Price: 

$20 for individuals / $35 for Community Institutions ie: libraries, schools, non-profits / $50 for Universities & Businesses

Buy this Video: 

To purchase a DVD please call 215 222 4201 or email inquiry@scribe.org.

When over 35 playgrounds closed in the Kensington area of North Philadelphia, local teens, seniors and other adults mobilized to give neighborhood youths recreational opportunities that went beyond playing jacks or stickball. Eager to reintroduce more wholesome youth activities like soccer and skating parties to the local landscape, Kensington Action Now (KAN) teamed up with exuberant -- and rapping! -- neighborhood teens and worried adults to produce this video documenting its two-year struggle to increase city funding for year-round public recreational facilities and programs.

Filmmaker's Name: 
Kensington Action Now & Gretjen Clausing
Filmmaker's Bio: 

Kensington Action Now (KAN) began in 1975 with a meeting of concerned community leaders from the Kensington area of North Philadelphia. This coalition of civic, church and business groups has been concerned with and worked on general conditions in their neighborhood. Their work on housing problems led to the incorporation of the Kensington Area Revitalization Project (KARP) in May 1980. Today KARP works on the acquisition, renovation and sale of abandoned properties.

Gretjen Clausing is an independent media programmer and activist, who has made her home in Philadelphia since 1989. Prior to joining Scribe's staff in September 2004, she was the Program Director of Film at the Prince where she created a new repertory film program with strong emphasis on work by emerging and established artists, music related media and programs soliciting audience engagement at the Prince Music Theater. She is a founding member of the Philadelphia Coalition for Public Access, a grassroots group that has been working since 1999 to get public access television activated in Philadelphia. She has worked at Scribe as a part-time facilitator since 1990. She joined Scribe as Program Director and Producer of the 2005 NAMAC conference in 2004.

Press: 

February 8, 1993 - Brief mention in "Expressing Themselves," by Ann Kolson, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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