Project Summary

Critical Exposure seeks to help D.C. youth tell their stories through documentary photography and writing. This process and the resulting exhibits will help to generate conversations and actions around issues that impact young people and to build support for youth-led solutions.

About me

I am interested in this grant because I believe in bringing people together to foster communication and dialogue about issues important to youth and enabling the voices of those youth to take center stage. This grant would create an opportunity to teach middle and high school students, particularly those with little to no access to arts education or leadership development, how to use documentary photography as a vehicle for self-expression as well as an advocacy tool. I have worked with and for youth in the greater D.C. area for the last 10 years. I began as a fifth grade teacher and then moved beyond the classroom, taking a position as a community organizer with Stand for Children where I helped concerned community members and youth to implement successful reform efforts in Prince George's County, MD. I have also worked as an education consultant for the Center for Community Change and as a freelance photographer, with clients including DC Scores and the Maryland ACLU. My partner, Heather Rieman, has a master's in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government and has been involved with education on several levels. She has worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Education and as a fellow with Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate HELP Committee. She is also familiar with the local impact of education policies through her involvement with the Minority Student Achievement Network and her work as a reading tutor, mentor, and classroom instructor.