Apr 26, 2017 New Video Studio empowers Latino immigrants to talk about their community work

Westside Leadership Institute (WLI) students tested out a new video recording studio (which will open Fall 2017) at the J. Willard Marriott Library to speak to other Latino immigrants about their community projects.

“The WLI is a collaboration between NeighborWorks, University Neighborhood Partners  and the University of Utah,” said Sarah Balland, a Master Student of Public Administration and also the TA of the course. “Together we have developed a leadership program with a vision is to engage and support local residents in community building programs,” she added. The intent of the program is to address the needs and desires of residents currently serving their community as well as the silent leaders that will one day guide and shape their neighborhoods through active participation in the community process.

This 2017 Spring semester the class is taught in Spanish by Ivis Garcia Zambrana, a professor in City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. Three teams are working to create a positive change in their communities. “Parents Engaged in Education” offers Latino parents tools to connect with teachers and decision makers at Mountain view and Glendale Elementary schools. “Hands that Help” is a support group for people who have experienced depression and other mental health issues. And, “Active Minds” is educating the Latino community about Alzheimer—how to detect it, how to improve the quality of life of those affected and how to prevent it. They all gave their pitches, spoke about their mission/vision, the community problem they are trying to solve as well as details about their project.

The video studio is well equipped to create your next project.

Dr. Garcia and her students were excited to try out for the first time this studio that, “will be open to students, faculty, staff and community members,” according to Tony Sams who is the New Media Projects Specialist at the Marriott Library. He added “It employs a special software developed by Penn State. You plug in your USB drive, push a button to begin recording and once again stop the recording. Anyone will be able to use it, no previous video production is needed.” The studio has a mic, lights, and a background color set.

WLI students were thrilled about the opportunity. Pretty soon their videos in Spanish will be posted on YouTube, their group Facebook pages, and will be used at their community events, including their graduation on April 8 at the School of Social Work. They feel empowered to play their videos and communicate their message, as well as coming back to the University of Utah and interact with this technology in the near future.

Socorro Ornelas one of the WLI students commented, “I never thought I’d be at the University of Utah doing my community work. That is what I like about the course, we are connected with people, tools and ways of thinking that make us be better community leaders and serve our community more effectively.”

Below is the video produced in the studio: