JustMedia | media literacy for community justice

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Mission

JustMedia is an open-access, lens-based media archive designed to support systemic reform through the art of storytelling. JustMedia focuses on challenging the criminal legal system by platforming existing films and other storytelling media in conjunction with curated curricula and community outreach events to underscore the power of anti-carceral storytelling as a media literacy tool.

WE ARE: CREATORS | ADVOCATES | STORYTELLERS | ARCHIVISTS

What We Do

Access

Cost free membership to an extensive multimedia database of content related to systemic violence and incarceration.

Network

Vibrant community of storytellers, who create and maintain partnerships with leading social justice groups.

Support

Consult with lesson planning, amplifying, networking for storytellers, leaders and organizers.

Inspire

Stories of/by families and communities directly impacted by the system.

RESOURCES

PARTNERSHIPS

POWERHOUSE is a homeplace / safe space for Black women/ WOC artists, activists, creatives, free-thinkers, fugitives, makers, resters, resisters, weirdos & writers. we are committed to supporting Folx who need time & space outside New York City to create, commune with nature, read, relax, reflect, restore, ruminate & rejuvenate. we believe that Folx are most powerful when they are unbothered & unencumbered by day-to-day stressors, chaotic environments, & oppressive systems. our mission is to provide a place to revive & reconnect with the creative power within.

JustMedia x Black Nerd Problems: Essays

That Time Hawkeye Beat The Starbucks Outta Gentrification

The Visibility of Heroes with Disabilities-Cover

Staff

Mahogany L. Browne
Executive Director
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This position is informed by her career as a writer, organizer, & educator. Browne has received fellowships from Art for Justice Fund, Air Serenbe, Cave Canem, Poets House, Mellon Research & Rauschenberg. She is the author of recent works: Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, & Black Girl Magic. As the founder of the diverse lit initiative, Woke Baby Book Fair.
Rico Frederick
Creative Director
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Award winning graphic designer with a graduate degree from Pratt Institute. Industry experience ranges from major imprints to global fashion brands as well as advertising agencies. Over ten years successfully delivering dynamic projects which activate emotion and intellect to transform creativity into unbound commercial and cultural campaigns.
Caroline Rothstein
Project Manager of Curriculum
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Caroline Rothstein is an internationally touring writer, poet, performer, and educator. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, NYLON, Narratively, The Forward, Hey Alma, and elsewhere. She tours year-round performing poetry, public
speaking, facilitating workshops and teaching at colleges, schools, performance venues, summer camps, and community organizations worldwide and virtually.
Courtney Cummings
Operations Manager
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Courtney (Cummings) is an imaginative, forward-thinking communicator that brings a combination of creative and analytical skills to every project. She is an essayist and features culture writer that is dedicated to deadlines with due regard for detail. As a copywriter, Courtney develops and edits compelling copy for clients that ensure consumer engagement and conversion.
Jive Poetic
Curriculum Development Consultant
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Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. He received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute. In 2017 Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. Currently, Jive is the Friday night poetry slam curator and host at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café. When he is not on tour, he teaches poetry and hip – hop workshops to at risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area.
Nikki Blak
Curriculum Development Consultant
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Nikki Blak is a writer, educator, and womanist, whose art, thought leadership, and radical education work interrogates oppressive social constructs and affirms Blackness. She works to make her ancestors proud and leave a just, equitable society for her descendants.
Barbara Fant
Project Manager of Community Outreach & Programs
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Barbara Fant has been writing and performing for over 15 years and has over a decade of experience in nonprofit administration and management. For over 10 years, she had led healing-informed poetry workshops for both youth and adults who are incarcerated, those in community, adults in recovery, and survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence. She has competed in 9 National Poetry Slam competitions, and she is a World Poetry Slam finalist.
Shanna Schlossberg
Curriculum Development Associate
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Shanna is a certified educator, writer, and social justice advocate. With a BA in political science and graduate degrees in public administration and education, her experience in education spans more than a decade. In addition to teaching, Shanna’s background includes education policy, curriculum development, alternative education, and academic advising.
Omar Holmon
Writing & Content Consultant
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Omar Holmon is a poet, culture critic, performer, and nerdy content creator based in Brooklyn (but from NJ!). He has been featured in Marvel Voices, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffpost, The Root, and Lifehacker. His debut poetry collection 'We Were All Someone Else Yesterday' debuted in 2020 on Button Poetry demonstrates how Omar navigates loss' hurt with light and heavy hearted humor.

Board

Ayana E. S. Walker
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Experienced Digital Marketing and SVOD Operations professional with extensive background in product management and online marketing in the entertainment sector.
Passionate humanitarian balancing professional career with commitment to making a positive societal impact.
HBO Total Duration 18 years as Title Director of Product Management, Marketing & Operations. Walker serves as mentors through several community organizations including Girls Write Now, Harlem Children’s Zone, and is on the board of Urban Word NYC.
Camonghne Felix
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is a poet, a writer, speaker, & political strategist. She received an M.A. in Arts Politics from NYU, an MFA from Bard College, & has received Fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo & Poets House. Formerly the Director of Surrogates & Strategic Communications at Elizabeth Warren for President, Camonghne is the Head of Strategic Communications at Blue State.
John Lee
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Lee is a writer, director, hacker, investor, radical creative futurist also known as, John Threat is a Director and Crypton, Blockchain Investor, Content Production and a Digital Consultant, John has created content for MTV!, Starz! , Various Music Labels and Ad Agencies and more.
Scott Hechinger
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Former public defender in Brooklyn, Scott represented people charged with crimes who couldn’t afford an attorney, but also long shared his perspective as a public defender outside of court in a variety of media to shift the narrative and drive systemic change. After years serving as Director of Policy at Brooklyn Defender Services, Scott is now focusing all of his time directing Zealous.
Tyra Patterson
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used her time in prison constructively to educate herself. A sixth grade dropout, Tyra eventually earn her GED, obtained a steam engineer’s license, became a certified tutor and completed a paralegal training program. On Christmas Day, 2017, Tyra was released from prison. She joined the OJPC staff full-time only weeks later.
D. Watkins
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D. Watkins is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of The Beast Side, The Cook Up, Where Tomorrows Aren’t Promised, and We Speak for Ourselves—which was Enoch Pratt Free Library’s 2020 One Book Baltimore selection. Watkins is a college lecturer at the University of Baltimore, where he earned an MFA in Creative Writing. He also holds a Master of Education degree from Johns Hopkins University.
Adnan Khan
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Adnan Khan is the Executive Director and co-founder of Re:Store Justice which he co-founded while incarcerated. Adnan was sentenced to 25 years to life under the Felony/Murder rule at the age of 18. While in prison, he inspired, launched and worked on the Felony/Murder rule legislation (Senate Bill 1437) with his organization, Re:Store Justice. The bill passed and after serving 16 years, in January 2019, Adnan was the first person re-sentenced under the bill he helped create.
Catherine Gund
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Founder and Director of Aubin Pictures, Catherine Gund is an Emmy-nominated producer, director, writer, and activist. Her media work focuses on strategic and sustainable social transformation, racial justice, arts and culture, HIV/AIDS and reproductive justice, and the environment. Her films have screened around the world in festivals, theaters, museums, and schools; on PBS, the Discovery Channel, Sundance Channel, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.

Highlights

JustMedia Presents:

Still in Prison | A Virtual Event

JustMedia invites you to join us for a collective conversation, short-film screening, followed by a discussion on storytelling and community awareness featuring Crystal Maloney & Greg McKelvey of Zealous. Guest Poet: Tongo Eisen-Martin

Screen STILL IN PRISON HERE

JustMedia:

Gender Equity

This curriculum has been created as a toolkit and guide to accompany Liberation for Black Trans Women, a film by Matt Nadel and Megan Plotka. The curriculum is specifically designed for a 1-hour classroom lesson, educational workshop experience, or film screening talk-back.

SEE OUR CURRICULUM

Librarian's Corner

3000 NIGHTS

"A young Palestinian schoolteacher gives birth to her son in an Israeli prison where she fights to protect him, survive and maintain hope."
—IMDb

Curriculum

JustMedia’s Curriculum Database is free to access! Just register with your email and create a password. LEARN MORE

Represent Justice "On These Grounds" Guide

This curriculum is a collaboration between Represent Justice and JustMedia as a guide and toolkit to accompany On These Grounds, a documentary film directed by Garrett Zevgetis and produced by Ariana Garfinkel, Jeff Consiglio, and Chico Colvard. The goal of this curriculum is to provide participants and learners with questions and activities that strengthen their understanding of the school-to-prison pipeline, the criminal legal system, police brutality, systemic and institutional racism, mass incarceration, prison reform, abolition, racial equity, and justice, as well as media literacy skills around visual media and art.

SEE OUR CURRICULUM

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