Projects

S.T.E.P. Up DC - A network of youth and youth-serving organizations committed to improving graduation rates in the District of Columbia, S.T.E.P. Up DC's goal is to identify and support sound policy solutions to ensure that every student graduates prepared for higher education or meaningful employment. S.T.E.P. Up DC is coordinated by two D.C. nonprofits – the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and Critical Exposure – that are convening youth groups and youth from across the city and facilitating discussions around a shared agenda to support students who have dropped out, been pushed out, or are at risk of dropping out. Together we will create a multi-pronged strategy to engage youth in a process of using surveys and photography to document factors that contribute to the dropout/pushout problem, developing a platform of potential solutions, and building the necessary public demand and political will to implement those solutions. Hearing directly from youth, those most impacted by the problem, is essential to identifying practical, experience-based solutions. To increase the academic achievement of all students and to help reengage those who have traditionally found themselves outside of the education system, we must develop policies that are based on an understanding from the youth themselves about what keeps them in school and what causes them to leave. Youth-serving organizations are uniquely situated to provide the necessary relationships, support, and structure for this project.

S.T.E.P. Up D.C. is currently analyzing the results of our city-wide youth survey to gain critical insights into why students drop out of school. We are also working with students and youth workers to develop a citywide policy platform to support changes that will help ensure that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and a good job. If you are interested in participating in S.T.E.P. Up DC, please contact Critical Exposure.

Past Projects

Since our founding in 2004, Critical Exposure has also worked with students from Baltimore, MD, Washington, DC, Austin, TX, Albuquerque, NM, and Philadelphia, PA.

Baltimore, MD - Baltimore was the site of Critical Exposure's pilot project and represents our most extensive effort to date. Since July 2004, more than 75 students have taken thousands of photographs of conditions in their schools, both positive and negative. More than 2,000 people, including the CEO of Baltimore City Schools, attended exhibits and events featuring students and their photographs. Venues included art galleries, a public library, a local college, and Baltimore City Hall.

In 2005, students took their photographs to Annapolis to show state lawmakers as they debated a bill that would provide additional funding for school facilities. Thanks in part to the impact of the students' photographs and testimony and to the work of our partner, the Maryland ACLU, the 2005 Maryland General Assembly increased funding for school facilities by $100 million statewide.

In 2006, a photography exhibit and reception for state legislators was held at a gallery across the street from the State House in Annapolis. Students walked legislators through the exhibit, showing and telling them about their experiences in school and the need for increased facilities funding. The General Assembly responded to this strategy and the overall advocacy campaign by significantly increasing the statewide school capital budget and nearly doubling funding for Baltimore City from $21 million to $39.6 million.

In honor of these efforts, Critical Exposure received a citation from the Maryland House of Delegates in recognition of our "efforts to improve public education in Maryland through student documentary photography of public schools that builds demand for a quality education for all students."

Washington, DC - Critical Exposure provided a group of DC high school students with cameras and training in documentary photography. The students took compelling pictures of the conditions of their schools and gave their photographs to City Council members, encouraging them to support a bill that would provide increased funding for modernizing schools in DC. In February 2006, the City Council approved the School Modernization Bill, which provides $3 billion over the next 15 years for school modernization.

Austin, TX - Working with Austin Voices for Education & Youth, Critical Exposure provided cameras and training to a group of middle and high school students who documented conditions in their schools, including their perceptions of the impact of No Child Left Behind on their education. During the Public Education Network's statewide hearing on No Child Left Behind, the students' photographs were exhibited in the entrance hall and as a "virtual gallery" in which images were projected onto a large screen behind the hearing's speakers and panelists. The students then used the photographs at a school board candidate forum that they organized.

Albuquerque, NM - Critical Exposure worked with a small group of high school students to document the ways in which the promises of two court cases, Brown v. Board of Education and Mendez v. Westminster, have been fulfilled in their schools and how they remain unfulfilled. The students took photographs of their schools, wrote captions, and exhibited and spoke about their work during a Community Action Dialogue about education in Albuquerque. The students' images reveal both remarkable progress made in the 50 years since the Brown decision and the need for continuing efforts to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education. The project was coordinated through a partnership with the Albuquerque School District and the Intercultural Development Research Association. Check back for an online gallery of the students' photographs.

Philadelphia, PA - Critical Exposure is currently implementing a three-city project in Pennsylvania in collaboration with three statewide education organizations - the Education Law Center, Education Leadership and Policy Center, and Good Schools Pennsylvania - to support their efforts to create a more equitable funding system for the state's public schools. In the first site, Philadelphia, students from Youth United for Change are taking photographs to support both the statewide campaign and their own local efforts to improve the city's high schools. Check back for an online gallery of the students' photographs.

EXPANSION: Bringing Critical Exposure to Your Community

Critical Exposure is in the process of identifying additional locations across the country - including schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities - in which to expand this project. In each of these sites, we will provide students with tools and training. We will partner with local and state organizations working toward systemic education reform to support and strengthen their efforts.

For large-scale projects, we will use the following criteria to determine sites for expansion: 1. Access to high-quality youth programs that are interested in offering Critical Exposure's training to their students. 2. The presence of well-positioned, capable advocacy organizations poised to implement, or already implementing, a strategy to achieve a greater degree of equity and excellence in public education and that are interested in partnering with Critical Exposure. 3. The availability of sufficient funding to implement our project. (The amount of funding needed varies based on the project's scope.)

Critical Exposure also engages in smaller projects when appropriate. Smaller projects typically include workshops for middle and high school students about documentary photography and how students can use their images and voices to inform and engage the public and policymakers on issues important to youth.

For more information about bringing Critical Exposure to your community, please contact us.