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By: Ingrid Hu Dahl
Published: July 31, 2007
Category: media professional of the month
Debra Koffler enjoys road trips and camping with her friends. She has a knack for pulling youth out of street living and is up on hip-hop and youth issues.
She is the Founder and Executive Director of Conscious Youth Media Crew (CYMC) in San Francisco, a recent addition to Adobe Youth Voices Projects of Change, sponsored by Listen Up! When I met Debra in the cool loft of CYMC, she treated youth with accountability and received much respect from youth as a result of her leadership. Her interaction with at risk youth was powerful. She is an expert and advocate of youth engagement and uses video/media to engage young people with tangible skills and career pipelines.
Debra founded CYMC to provide a new and exciting way to engage young people in learning technology and discovering the power of their voice through the creation of meaningful and socially conscious youth media art. Since 2001, more than 150 low-income, high-risk youth in San Francisco have successfully participated in CYMC programs.
Having worked as a teacher and community leader for 15 years primarily with underserved and high-risk youth, Debra maintains collaborations with schools, families and youth organizations to ensure ongoing program success of CYMC.
She brings invaluable experience and leadership in education, youth media and technology training, literacy building, youth development, violence prevention, and the arts.
Debra is a strong advocate in the development of youth media programming throughout the Bay Area and for increased access to digital media arts and technology for all communities in San Francisco.
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