Roots for Resilience

Uptown Summer, an initiative of The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, N.Y., is a 5-week summer youth employment program where teens work side-by-side with community leaders, media professionals, renowned artists, college professors, scientists, and local historians to address environmental justice issues in their community. Through the diverse programming, they learn how to investigate urban ecosystems, develop agency in community sustainability and creatively document and share their experiences using photo, video and audio to tell homegrown stories of hope and resilience.

I was a photography intern during this program and had the opportunity to witness the youth employees gradually begin to develop trust in one another and their mentors. As they gained awareness around the issues of poverty and pollution in their neighborhood, I saw them take action. This experience taught me how to effectively use social media to document the youth’s journey of discovery and promote the Sanctuary’s mission.

From left, Jarelle Summers, Patrick Quinn and Donovan Wooten play a game of pick up basketball in Troy, NY on Aug. 1, 2018.

Ellie Irons, Uptown Summer mentor and Arts PhD student at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, demonstrates to Uptown Summer youth how to collect seeds in Troy, N.Y. on July 19, 2018. The youth employees created a time capsule with native weedy species part of Iron’s ongoing project Next Epoch Seed Library.

Uptown Summer youth, interns and staff search the area behind an abandoned building for native seeds in North Troy, N.Y. on July 19, 2018. The building is in the process of being transformed by The Sanctuary for Independent Media into a community science center.

An Uptown Summer youth employee investigates a native plant in the yard of an abandoned building recently acquired by the Sanctuary in Troy, N.Y. on July 11, 2018.

Maya Sanders, left, and Durasia Anderson, center, both interns from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, help weed at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y. on July 23, 2018.

Mentor Kathy High, left, youth employee Felicia McConnell, center, and intern Julia Cavicci, right, speak in a round table discussion at the Sanctuary’s radio studio, WOOC 105.3 FM, in Troy, N.Y. on Aug. 8, 2018. McConnell produced a radio story about contaminated fish in the Hudson River during her time at the Sanctuary.

Kai Griffin, left, assists DEC research Chris Bowser, center left, in measuring American eels while Nicolena Russell, center right, records the data on the shore of the Poesten Kill in Troy, N.Y. on Aug. 8, 2018.

From left; Jarelle Summers, Darlene Hunter, Nicolena Russell and Donovan Wooten prepare to collect samples of water from the Hudson River in Troy, N.Y. on July 24, 2018.

Kai Griffin, left, and Angelo Domingo, right, review samples of water collected from the Hudson River tested for anti-biotic resistance in Troy, N.Y. on July 27, 2018.

Jarelle Summers, Donovan Wooten and Dakota Murray stand above the Poesten Kill as Kai Griffin makes his way down to the shore in Troy, N.Y. on Aug. 8, 2018. The Uptown Summer employees assisted the Department of Environmental Conservation in collecting data on eels in the creek.

Donovan Wooten peels tape off of the youth employees “creative crosswalk” design down the street from the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, N.Y. on Aug. 9, 2018. With the help of a local artist and poet, the youth painted words into new the crosswalks to describe the neighborhood, like “sacred.”

Jarelle Summers, center, swings a hose towards his fellow youth employees to celebrate the last day of the Uptown Summer program in Troy, N.Y. on Aug. 10, 2018.

From left, Kai Griffin, Donovan Wooten and Jarelle Summers, Uptown Summer employees, race each other during some downtime on a visit to Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, N.Y. on July 23, 2018.