Julie Brich-Scheuring, another founder, finished journalism school with a stronger desire to work with kids than to join the press corps. Basically, the four founders of Street-Level gravitated toward alternative media, collaborations with youth?and, ultimately, to one another. They found an empty storefront located across the street from a high school, on a corner where four gang lines converged, and converted it into "that video place run by kids."

The collaborative Street-Level Youth Media offers a twist on traditional after-school art programs: They teach media literacy to kids from five to 25, while also giving them valuable production skills. After all, says Streit, "learning how to communicate is better than teaching them how to paint a straight line."

Finding Neutral Ground
The street-level founders strove to take their young charges beyond the exclusivity of mainstream media. "Media can be so powerful, particularly television, in the role that it plays with urban kids," explains Streit. Handing the kids media skills rather than weapons, therefore, proved to be empowering. At the same time, instructors opened up dialogue on social implications, aesthetics, and technology. From a teacher's point of view, say Streit and Brich-Scheuring, that makes the instruction far more dynamic.

But it was still important to show the broader community how these kids felt trapped in a dangerous war zone. Street-Level board member and Haitian artist, Inigo Manglana-Ovalle, came up with the idea of launching a dialogue among the gangs. The Rockefeller Foundation provided a grant, and Street-Level's first pilot program, Neutral Ground, demonstrated the power of a well-placed camera. Rival gangs who had never crossed verbal barriers before finally did so through a series of video-taped letters. For a time, the on-camera communications brokered a truce among the warring fractions.

Streit explains that urban kids on the street often feel that they have no voice. "Everything that we are trying to do is give kids an opportunity to express themselves. But we realized with Neutral Ground that you can't build an organization off of a project. We wanted Neutral Ground to be an environment where kids could come in off the street and tell their stories through technology."

Street-Level subsequently became one of the first organizations in the country to offer urban youth access to new technology. The organization started with only an outdated Apple computer. That singular piece of hardware, though, spawned Web pages that told endless stories across the Internet. Eventually, the storefront expanded into a lab full of computers for new forms of technical story-telling, including graphic art, audio manipulation, and digital video.

Breaking the Mold
The Street-Level founders wanted to redefine what it meant to be a community-based arts organization. In particular, they didn't want an executive director?or charity. A team of co-directors including Brich-Scheuring and Streit?along with Deb Diehl and Paul Teruel?incorporated Street-Level in September 1995 as a not-for-profit organization.

Through team decision-making, they shaped Street-Level to service over 800 children and young adults in Chicago at three "drop-in" centers, where kids can access the computer lab. Classes were created in partnership with youth centers and community institutions and offered free to participants. Street-Level also partnered with public schools to serve young people in various neighborhoods through the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE).

To avoid asking for hand-outs, they forged production collaborations with paying partners that allowed Street-Level to distribute $70,000 last year in salaries to student workers.

"For the first time, kids are making videos that go in the Chicago Historical Society about life in their neighborhood. And they're getting paid to do it," says Streit. He estimates that Street-Level oversees about two dozen projects annually with various funding partners, usually cultural organizations and museums. "We work with them to create an environment where the kids have editorial say over the product and the work that they do. It's a job program and an opportunity."

And, adds Streit, "it allows us to go to the funding community and say that we generate half of our income ourselves by being subcontractors."

Impact on Youth
What happens to these kids empowered by Street-Level's technology and pay checks?

Brich-Scheuring says that the organization is too young to determine the outcomes at this point. Streit responds that they don't encourage the kids to leave: "They can participate as long as they can connect with the programs. Many come back as mentors and volunteers. They can come one day a week or five days a week. We've created an environment where they're in power. A space that we share."

Street-Level youth are special, according to the founders. "Their proficiency with the equipment and the neighborhood sometimes makes them more qualified to become staff than someone who's graduated college, and may know the technology, but has no knowledge of life," says Streit.

Success at Street-Level, says Brich-Scheuring, is when former students they once worried about become trustworthy enough to run programs. A dedication in the April 1998 issue of LIVE WIRE, the organization's newsletter, describes such a case: "A very special thanks to Alfonso Soto who is leaving us this month. Alf is one of the co-founding youth of Street-Level Video and has been an incredibly valuable staff member with us since 1995. Alf, we are sorry to see you go but extremely proud that you've decided to pursue your education and dreams. We wish you the best of everything. Peace out."

Rocked by Realities
Failure isn't a word used in conjunction with the students. "There have been a number of times when I feel that I have failed," says Streit. "I never feel that a kid has failed. But I think that each of us, at one time or another, has been rocked by the realities that go along with at-risk kids. We feel like 'why couldn't we have done something?'"

Brich-Scheuring points out that there are a network of organizations and social service agencies available to the children who require extra care. She wisely asserts: "We are only one organization among many."

Nonetheless, Street-Level staff are encouraged to act as surrogate parents, to occasionally approach a troubled child and say: "Hey, what's going on? I saw you hanging out with those guys over there." But that doesn't always work, Streit admits. "Sometimes the draw of those outside forces is a lot stronger than we are."

The machinery at Street-Level often belies their true purpose. Says Streit: "A lot of people approach us like we're technology?cold and dry?but our primary concern is the kids and their lives. Sometimes we jokingly tell people that we could be using clay instead of computers and still be doing the same thing."

From Street-Level to Citywide
Street-Level moved last winter from their first home to a new storefront four blocks away that provides three times the space. They now have a twenty-station computer lab where the young students can access the Internet, work on computer art, homework, or multimedia software. There's a video classroom with broadcast quality editing, computer-based editing, viewing stations?and, space for their growing video archives. Doors are open six days a week for drop-in activities and special projects.

Kudos for Street-Level and mentions of new programs clutter recent copies of their newsletter: This winter Street-Level became a partner in out-reach efforts tied to an upcoming PBS series entitled, Africans in America. This spring Street-Level is teaming up with Erie House to create youth-produced PSAs about the dangers of smoking which will air on CAN-TV and be presented at the annual Anti-Smoking rally. Their web site was recently named a semifinalist in the children's division of the GII Internet Awards, a nationally recognized project known as the Oscars of the Internet.

And, finally, the newsletter describes a recent journey that seven Street-Level members took to Chiapas and back?"In giving of their skills to people in Chiapas who so desperately need them, they confirmed the very foundations of Street-Level's existence: That video, in the hands of those relegated to the margins, builds pride in self and community and enables the creator to reclaim their history and culture."

Brich-Scheuring and Streit explain that the organization has changed enormously since its founding because so many influences have led them in new directions. "We've gone citywide, developed school programs and expanded the jobs program way beyond anything we ever envisioned. We always wanted to be flexible in that way," says Brich-Scheuring.

Streit adds: "We hope that in time we can consult on a national level with people who are trying to do the same kind of work?making an environment in art."