Idea for a photo social projects. Comments welcome.

[rjalex]

For quite a few months I have been mulling over a project idea of mine:

Using photography to help young people living in urban suburbs to make something out of their lives.

I know this might sound weird but here are my initial thoughts about this:

a) A percentage of people aged 14 to 25 drop out of their studies and just "hang around" boring themselves to death with obvious consequences

b) An high percentage of these kids does not have any skills to make a living other than those very low skills (such as heavy manual labor) in which there is a lot of competition (esp. by illegal immigrants).

c) A lot of destructive behavior I see here in my suburban environment makes the already drab landscape even more inhospitable to people living here.

So I am dreaming about getting some sponsorship from the local government and maybe from a camera vendor to put together a small amount of cameras and lenses and a space which will be used to meet, give lessons, give assignments, gather to jointly critique each other's work, and maybe do some exhibitions.

I think photography could give a purpose to these some of these kids, would help them to actually look to their environment and possible beauty of it, give them some higher skills which might become a source of income.

I would like to know if any of you has ever heard about similar projects and can direct me to info about them.

Thank you very much
Bob

[Steve Smith]

Hi Bob,

I have a friend who does things like this - not actually photography, he has done a fishing club and a mini moto club. He gets money to buy equipment, advertise and so on from local consortiums (like funding agencies) and has even had support from the local police authority. His main aim with this sort of thing is to get kids off the streets and give them an interest. These kind of things DO work but only make a very small way and, probably show a little or un-noticable difference and I do know he often wonders if it is worth the effort. He spends many hours sorting, arranging, chasing people up and so on but he seems to enjoy it. All I can say is that your idea is a wonderful idea but be prepared for a LOT of hard work for what could be very little in return - Im sure youre not looking for fame or fortune but if you do decide to take this on I wish you good luck, I think your aim is very admirable and if there only more people who think this way then the world would be a better place.

Best wishes and good luck.

Steve

[rjalex]

Steve thank you for your kind words. Well I know quite well what I am up to. I was one hell of a disbanded kid in my teens ! :) Prepared to hunt for stolen equipment etc. :) And true, do not go into this for fame or fortune, but only to try living in a better place myself. I am mature enough to understand I will never be able to convert the masses, I mean not even the church has managed to in 2000 years with forces vastly above anything I can dream (joking) ! :) But I think that if only one of the kids you reach will get a better life because of this the moral reward will be great. As a kid I was myself kind of "saved" by a charismatic Latin language professor and still think of him from times to times.
Bob
PS Preparing this idea for my future retirement. Don't wanna sit idle cleaning my photo equipment ! lol

[Woolburr]

I participate in a mentoring program at least one day a week and sometimes more depending on the demand. We work with at risk teens...so far things have gone quite well...I won't say that we have saved the world, but at least there are a few younger folks that now know that there are people that do care. I don't know about Italy...but here there are groups like the United Way that organize these programs.