YoungUrbanist: An After-School Community Workshop

We envision a city in which everyone is equipped to explore. Our collective regards urban exploration as an essential instrument for encouraging meaningful dialogue and deepening community advocacy. Navigating through this unpredictable era, the Cincinnati Urban Hikers (CUH) serve as a remedy that provides a positive outlet to build empathy, understanding, and inclusion.

We’re looking to extend the footprint of the group and build a community of hikers through our YoungUrbanist after-school program and WHY WE WALK documentary film:

YoungUrbanist: YoungUrbanist is an educational program designed for inner-city high school students: An urban guide to foster critical thinking through exploration, thought-provoking conversation, and street photography. These workshops will entail walks through nearby neighborhoods led by (1) a Cincinnati Urban Hiker/Walking Mentor and (2) a Certified Teaching Artist, who will guide students using art, photography, and writing to help tell the story of each journey. This program will provide students with a new perspective of their city, as well as build a foundation for new community leaders to emerge. YoungUrbanist is a school-based program, set to pilot during the 2020-2021 school year.

WHY WE WALK: This fundraising campaign is an extension of the Cincinnati Urban Hikers. Since 2016, The CUH has been self-producing a documentary film chronicling the collective's organic development from their concrete jungle to the great outdoors. The film, WHY WE WALK, touches on the lack of diversity in green spaces as well as the power of walking for connection and self-discovery. The film aims to bridge together humanity — one mile at a time. A sizable portion of this campaign will be utilized for the film's final post-production phase. More information regarding the film's mission can be found in the budget section and down below: https://www.whywewalkfilm.com/

Once the funding is secured, we can begin to purchase materials needed to run the program, secure our qualified teaching artists, and finish editing the film.

YoungUrbanist:

(1) October 2020 – December 2021

• Gather monetary and in-kind donations
• Meet with schools and community organizations to finalize dates for the program
• Secure teaching artists
• Purchase materials for the program (sanitizers, polaroid cameras, etc.)

(2) January 2021 – March 2021

• Connected with 3-4 schools
• Running program 

WHY WE WALK:

(1) End of Year 2020

• Conduct final interview with main subjects
• Finish post-production of the film (animation, sound mix, color correction, etc.)
• Map out distribution strategy for 2021

It's important for young people––mostly within black and brown communities––to be granted an opportunity to see the world differently, even if from the perspective of their own backyards. Walking is an essential tool that not only reconnects us to our surroundings, but to one another.