ECHOES Program

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About the Program

The ECHOES program is an afterschool multimedia arts and civic engagement program targeting youth in San Diego, California. The ECHOES program includes both Saturday sessions for the non school-based participants and weekday afternoons for the school-based groups. The junior and junior-high middle school and high school youth are committed to attend the ECHOES program for 10 months to work on their new media journalism, digital photography, and graphic design projects while acquiring basic journalism techniques. Through the partnership with the San Diego School District, the youth in this program actively participate in conveying the issues they care about and in understanding their school and local community environments. Working from a local context, participants engage in social, cultural, and historical learning about the world.

The Goals of This Program:

• To encourage youth to become engaged in multiple areas of schoolwork that will lead them to higher educational opportunities
• To diminish negative stereotypes about our youth and to receive support from community members
• To prevent drug and alcohol abuse, and multiple forms of violence that compromise physical and mental health for youth

Program Activities:

ECHOES program trains young people in the effective use of various forms of technology in order to tell their stories. The participants of this program engage themselves in group activities on social and global subjects where they learn to design still and interactive graphics, and create videos and digital photographs to produce their ECHOES magazine. These technology products are shared through an annual exhibition/Service Learning Project called "Sun Screens". With a 10-month-long commitment to the ECHOES program, the participants are able to reflect on their lives and become aware of community and global issues through these digital arts projects.

Funding Sources:

• Violence prevention grant through the counseling departments at the San Diego School District
• The Waitt Family Foundation