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April Smith of AHA MEDIA is a featured storyline in ” With Glowing Hearts” – WGH the Movie
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This storyline is from the Documentary ‘With Glowing Hearts‘. It follows April Smith on her journey building AHA Media as the preeminent news source for Vancouver’s DTES using social media for social justice. Along the way April faces many challenges including homelessness
” April Smith is an incredible young woman facing a boat load of challenges. She has graciously allowed us to follow her for the last 8 months and gather the footage we used to compile this story thread. Hers is a story full of both despair and inspiration. ”
A Social Media revolution has been brewing for the past five years on websites from FaceBook, to Wikipedia, to Flickr, and as it spreads throughout the Internet and into popular culture through an increasing number of portals, it is creating a new sense of community and empowerment amongst those who have embraced it.History has shown that poor and marginalized communities stand to gain the most from leaps forward in the democratization of information, so the excitement in areas like Vancouver’s maligned Downtown Eastside about the possibilities of Web 2.0 and beyond is palpable.
With the Winter Olympics less than a year away, billions have been spent in preparations and many poverty advocates are concerned about how the city’s several thousand homeless and working poor will fit into the equation as Vancouver puts on its best face for the world.
Against this background the film examines Social Media in action as a group named Fearless City embarks on a campaign to empower and protect its neighbours with cellphones, video-streaming, and the World Wide Web.
With great thanks to Director Andrew Lavigne and Producer Jon Ornoy !
April Smith of AHA MEDIA is very honored to be featured by Gillian Shaw – Digital Life Writer for The Vancouver Sun Newspaper on Christmas Eve 2009
By GILLIAN SHAW
23 DEC 2009 DIGITAL LIFE
As it comes time to wrap up 2009, I wanted to share the story of a journalist who has inspired me this year.
A citizen journalist – April Smith, who is making an impact not only for her work chronicling the news and stories of Vancouver’s inner city but also for giving back to her community by mentoring others.
April didn’t graduate from any journalism program. Hers was truly the school of hard knocks and her background one of hardship.
I first met April at WordCamp Whistler last January. She was a grad of the Downtown Eastside’s Fearless City Mobile project, which helped residents and artists of the neighborhood learn to tell stories through mobile media.
At the time April said the experience had been ‘life-changing.’
“I have moved from one side of the tracks to the other,” she told me.
The other side of the tracks was pretty ugly. It was a life of homelessness and struggling to survive on the streets.
April shares her story with eloquence and honesty that is all the more compelling because it is free of self-pity. Her optimism for the future is what comes through loud and clear.
You can listen to Vancouver’s CBC radio did with April. And you see her at work in an episode of With Glowing Hearts the Movie. She is @AprilFilms on Twitter.
WGHthemovie.ca -April Smith storyline from Andrew Lavigne on Vimeo.
The mentoring April received is being returned to the community many times over with the creation of AHA Media, a fledgling new media company started by April along with Hendrik Beune and Al Tkatch – AHA coming from the first letters of their names.
April is teaching and mentoring others in the Downtown Eastside, sharing her skills and enthusiasm in the hope of offering alternatives that will help improve lives.
April lives in a single room in the DTES and carries out her work and volunteering on a shoestring budget – no shoestring might be too generous to describe it. When I talk to April on the phone, I know that it’s using up precious minutes that she must buy to recharge her cell phone. I recently found out that the Nokia video phone that April was using in her work was borrowed and had to be returned. So I asked her what she needs to carry on.
While it has been a tough year for media organizations, not many list food and warm clothing on their wish list, but those are among the items AHA Media, which does volunteer peer training at the LifeSkills Centre near Oppenheimer Park, is seeking for its DTES neighbors.
The organization also needs: FIDO Pay as You Go Phone Cards for cell phones, digital cameras, SD memory cards, laptop and desktop computers, video cameras and audio equipment.
If you have any of these things kicking around, consider sharing them with others who will pay it forward many times over.
A Table for 2000: Union Gospel Mission partners with a celebrated local restaurant group to host a free gourmet meal for the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.
A Table for 2000:
Union Gospel Mission partners with a celebrated local restaurant group to host a free gourmet meal for the Downtown Eastside.
Just in time for Christmas, thousands of Downtown Eastside residents will enjoy the gourmet dinner of the season on Wednesday, December 23rd when Union Gospel Mission hosts A Table for 2000, a free culinary feast that is being made possible by the generosity and volunteer-time of a celebrated local restaurant group. The entire event is designed to give Downtown Eastside residents a unique, fine dining Christmas experience.
To accommodate so many guests, UGM will erect a tent outside of its building on Princess Street between Hastings and Cordova, seating 700 at a time. The spacious environment will ensure that guests don’t feel rushed as they enjoy hand-carved honey glazed ham and oven roasted beef strip loin with traditional festive gravy, buttered vegetables with fresh herbs, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, an Italian pasta bar, fresh baked buns with whipped sea salt butter, and chocolate mousse tarts for desert. The tent will be decorated with festive lights and Christmas trees, and guests will be serenaded by carolers and the Vancouver Firefighters Band. At the end of the evening, guests will depart with a stocking full of goodies to help add some holiday cheer to the Christmas season.
UGM will offer a shopping cart valet service, so that guests can relax and dine leisurely with the knowledge that their belongings are secure. The SPCA will be on-hand to care for and feed dogs.
The Details
What: Union Gospel Mission partners with Glowbal Restaurant Group to present A Table for 2000, a gourmet Christmas feast in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that is free to all.
Where: Princess Street between Hastings and Cordova, beside Union Gospel Mission. The street will be closed to traffic for this event, and guests will enjoy the meal in a heated tent with festive lights and Christmas trees, while being serenaded by carolers and the Vancouver Firefighters Band.
When: Wednesday, December 23, 2009
3:00pm: Priority seating for seniors, families, and those with special needs
4:00 – 7:30pm: event open to the public
Why: The Glowbal Restaurant Group approached UGM with the simple desire to provide a festive, gourmet, free Christmas meal to the Downtown Eastside. About 100 Glowbal employees will be volunteering at the event.
Carts and dogs are welcome; they will be securely cared for.
About UGM
Union Gospel Mission has been reaching the hungry, hurting and homeless for nearly 70 years. Through its 10 locations in Metro Vancouver and the city of Mission, UGM provides counseling, education, safe housing, and alcohol and drug recovery to men, women, youth and children struggling with poverty, homelessness and addiction. The heart of the mission is to demonstrate God’s transforming love, ease the burden of the most vulnerable, rebuild the lives of the broken and offer dignity to those who feel cast aside. UGM is a proud member of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities.
AHA MEDIA is very proud to introduce a new look to AHA MEDIA’s Website
Welcome to the new look for AHA MEDIA online! 🙂
A sleek new design means faster access to what AHA MEDIA is known for primarily…
1) Social Media Content Production, Promotion, Documentation and Archiving of Events, Projects and more
2) Hyper Local Citizen Journalism Coverage – A media outlet for people of Vancouver and Downtown Eastside to help tell their own stories. Through our social media campaigns we aim to bring an awareness to the Social Justice issues that affect our area
AHA MEDIA is proud to be involved in our Vancouver Downtown Eastside Community! 🙂
- Facilitate others in social media literacy and campaign building
- Community engagement and outreach with social media
- Peer advocacy and awareness for our neighborhood residents.
- Active participation in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside
- Media representation and speaking engagements
Three upcoming and ongoing projects that AHA MEDIA is involved in
1 ) Filming 3 satirical/parody remakes of a “Holiday themed” song involving residents of the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.
2) Part of W2 Community Media Art’s Fearless City Mobile Project – helping to do livestreaming and engage with the Downtown Eastside . We will include their personal thoughts and stories in a very participatory way. http://www.CreativeTechnology.org
3) Being filmed and documented ourselves for With Glowing Hearts, an independent film about social justice, social media, Olympics and the Vancouver Downtown Eastside http://www.WGHTheMovie.ca
Thanks everyone for supporting AHA MEDIA! We really appreciate it! 🙂
Some of AHA MEDIA status updates on Facebook and Twitter over 2009 in Vancouver + Downtown Eastside ( DTES )
@Ahamedia went and filmed our walkthrough of @Workspace!! Post tomorrow!
Going to film Press Conference at Golden Crown – Illegal Tenant Evictions
NEW POST! @AHAMEDIA filmed at Fight HST Rally at Canada Place on Sat Sept 18 – Over 5,000 ppl! http://tinyurl.com/nf2q3q
Will be helping to present at #BarCamp on @FearlessCity – Moble Media + @W2Woodwards – New Media Arts Centre in Vancouver #BCV09
Will be helping to do a presentation on Mobile Media Strategies at @FreshMediaMe at @W2Woodwards from 1:50pm to 2:40pm TODAY!
Just filmed a short segment of the the Sites of Empowerment tour in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside with Wendy Pedersen and CCAP volunteers. Nice to see Vancouver City Councillor George Chow with our group of 40 interested folks on life in our community! 🙂
Dear Friends, I just started @AHAMEDIA Fan page on Facebook. Please come join me http://tinyurl.com/yzw4sfz Thank you
Today AHA MEDIA will be filming Remembrance Day ceremonies at Victory Square in Vancouver
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