The community is african-american youth who live in underserved, high crime areas of Brooklyn and Queens mainly. We love Brooklyn, we just wish it was more safe. We all have friends who have been shot, some even killed. Friends who are in jail or have been. I wanted a fun program that was going to help kids see that there was something productive they could do, some way to make money other than crime. A future for themselves, a reason to go to college and finish. My mom said a lot of kids go to college but many of them don't finish. I wanted kids to see people who have careers doing what these kids love to do: rap, fashion design, own a business, skateboard,photography, artists, singers, anything. If a kid comes to The Stoop and is interested in something that we haven't done yet, we find and invite a guest that does that.

The Stoop has been meeting for almost a year and we have had over 40 teenagers come by and over 30 guest give their time. We now want to create a tv show so that more kids can see something positive on tv. We have television producers and videographers and writers who are helping us. We want to start The Stoop in Atlanta where some of my friends have moved to and The Stoop in Newark, NJ where some of the guests are.

I went to my mom and her friend, who are both teachers, about the issues that kids talk about. The Stoop is the program that was created to bring together teenagers from all over New York City and successful Brooklynites in careers you don't normally hear about. We created a flyer and put some of the guests we wanted on there. We made copies and started handing them out to kids. We asked restaurants if we could meet there for free and some agreed! Later on a community center, St. Johns Recreational Center let us use a room there on Saturdays. We take pictures and video record the interviews. The students make up the questions and research the guest before they come. We call and invite them as guest and to events. We call meetings and upload the pictures and videos to the Myspace page. We sometimes edit the videos too. We have made a big impact with the students who are part of The Stoop. We have learned a lot about how to use the camera and computer to produce what we want. All of the kids are still in school and we are all doing better and are focused. One boy was dropping out but he is staying an extra year in high school to graduate. Some of us have started our own businesses and teach other kids how they can too. We have had to get over being shy and ask for what we want. We are more confident and aware of what is going on in the world and taking action about it. We are working on a documentary next about child labor used to make sneakers.

People can refer guests to our myspace page. If they know people in Atlanta and New Jersey who want to help that would be great. They can donate cameras, film, editing equipment or offer a space for us to meet. They can donate money so we can really have the tv show be hot.