Race & Justice in America: An Atlantic Summit

On Nov. 12th, 2015, we will show preview clips from our upcoming short film "Think of Calvin" at a tremendous Race & Justice Summit in Washington, DC being organized by the Atlantic magazine's Atlantic Live program and featuring Atlantic correspondent and author Ta-Nehisi Coates.  TEACHED Producer/Director Kelly Amis will speak at the event. To register, go here. 

Code Oakland Screening Series for Youth!

We're so excited to launch our first youth screening series here in Code Oakland's hometown! The first event is at Impact Hub Oakalnd -- such a cool venue -- and one where we shot part of the film no less!  This will be a youth-centered event to celebrate the stars of Code Oakland, especially the young up-and-coming tech stars featured in the film. Organized in collaboration with Oakland Public Libraries, Youth Radio, Downtown TAY, Black Girls Code, #YesWeCode, Qeyno Labs and other great local organizations, this fun event will include food, entertainment (the local all-girl band, Sisters Keeper!), the short film screening and a taste of the hackathon experience. 

Then, we have two screening events coming up at Oakland Public Libraries, 81st Ave. Branch and Rockridge Branch. Some details on the flier below and more coming soon!

Thanks to the Kapor Center for Social Impact for sponsoring these great events for Oakland youth!

Go HERE to grab free tickets for the Impact Hub screening on May 9th, 6:30 pm. For the library screenings, just show up! We're going to give you an opportunity to see what coding & hackathons are all about -- NO experience required.

Haven't seen the Code Oakland trailer? Watch it HERE.

Upcoming Code Oakland Screenings!

Our newest film, Code Oakland, is already getting into film festivals not just around the U.S., but the world! We have screenings coming up in St. Tropez, Canada and even one in India (not on the list yet -- stay tuned for those details). Meanwhile check out the dates for the Art of Brooklyn, Julien Dubuque, Humboldt Internat'l, "(In)Justice for All" in Chicago and more.

Go to our screenings page for dates & details.

Also, if you're in the Bay Area, save the date of May 9th, 6:30-8:30, for a very special screening of Code Oakland at Impact Hub Oakland! Details coming soon.

What you can do

We have less than two weeks to go in our Kickstarter campaign to finish TEACHED Vol. II: three new short films about race, education and equality. You can watch the trailer for two of themon Kickstarter: Code Oakland and Think of Calvin.

Many independent film projects like ours rely on crowdfunding: lots of people giving what they can.

Please make a pledge today and share the news with everyone you know.

Other ways to help:

• Send an email to 10+ friends! Copy, paste and send:
• I made a pledge to this Kickstarter campaign for the awesome independent film project TEACHED, because I believe we need more ways to bring communities together for candid discussion around issues of race, equality and opportunity. TEACHED short films, produced and directed by former teacher and long-time education equality activist Kelly Amis, focus on the experiences of urban youth in America today. Please join me in helping TEACHED finish three new films; you can watch the trailer for the first one, "Code Oakland," and read more about the project, HERE.

• Tweet for us! Copy, paste and tweet:
• I made a pledge 2 @TEACHED Kickstarter b/c I believe in #edequality & the potential of all children. Pls join me! http://kck.st/1CHKgUG

• Like us on Facebook and join our mailing list if you're not already on it; go to www.teached.org and fill out sign-up form on the right column.

Everything you do helps us one step forward. Have a great day and thank you for your support. We can't do it without you!

TEACHED KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN = THREE NEW FILMS

Dear supporters and education equality warriors,

We have just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help us finish three new short, cinematic films about urban minority youth in America. We are very excited about these films, which share stories that are inspiring, candid and sometimes outrageous. These are stories of typical black boys and men in America who face what should not be typical for anyone: institutions and policies --- not to mention portions of society as whole -- that treat them in significantly different and unjust ways, bringing into question our most basic principles of democracy and equality.

Please check out our Kickstarter campaign for more information about the films. Each week we will premiere a new trailer for one of the films, starting with Code Oakland, which you can watch now!

It takes a village to raise a child, and we've learned it takes a HUGE crowd of supporters to make a film about that child! TEACHED films are independent, non-profit and intended to be shared with communities across America to get more conversations going and bridges built between diverse populations. So please join our effort to put more stories like these "on the loudspeaker" and support our Kickstarter campaign today (and pssst -- please pass it on)!

TEACHED at BAEO Black Alliance for Educationial Options Symposium 2014

We are proud to be presenting TEACHED and our interactive screening model at this year's Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) Symposium being held in New Orleans. We will be showing clips from our films and talking to the Emerging Leaders of BAEO's Bailey-Sullivan Leadership Institute on how to organize communities and advocate for educational equality using our short films. 

BAEO’s Annual Symposium has convened for 14 years to inform, inspire, and empower emerging leaders (age 16-35), parents, educators, elected officials, community leaders, and clergy from across the country as they work to increase access to high-quality educational options for Black children by actively supporting transformational education reform initiatives and parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working class Black families. The Symposium remains the largest gathering of Black education reform supporters in the nation, drawing as many as 1,000 participants.

BAEO was founded by 

Dr. Howard Fuller

, an inspiration to the TEACHED series and a star of our short film 

The Blame Game: Teachers Speak Out

.  He has also just announced the publication of his new book "No Struggle, No Progress" coming out in the fall.  We send our congratulations and can't wait to read it!