Throughout my life, I’ve been really blessed to have two key ingredients to success: a loving community, and football, an outlet I was passionate about. But I realize that not every kid has that, as much as I wish they did.
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So I think it’s a beautiful thing what West Philly native Janine Spruill is doing with her nonprofit, Lil Filmmakers. Growing up in the Mantua neighborhood, Spruill was passionate about film from the time she was seven and saw E.T. That love led her to Temple, where she majored in Film and Media Arts. And when she graduated in 1999, Spruill didn’t jet off on the first flight to Hollywood: She returned to her roots, first volunteering, with cameras in tow, at her elementary school alma mater, Belmont Charter Elementary School, then expanding her filmmaking programming to after-school and summer programs.
“Some kids don’t feel like the world cares about them,” Spruill says. “Especially young people of color, kids who are growing up in high poverty areas, they feel like they’re kind of in a bubble and there’s nothing to look forward to in life, it’s this sense of hopelessness. But when a young person gets to say, ‘It’s ok to dream,’ then their whole mind changes.” They become more career-minded, Spruill says, and they start making different decisions because now they see a goal.
For years Lil Filmmakers operated out of rented space at community centers, but last year they opened their first office—down the block from where Spruill grew up—where students can come to explore filmmaking, graphic design, art, music, and any other artistic field having to do with movie-making. The space has computers, cameras, art supplies, and the infectious optimism of Spruill.
Once a kid realizes she can trust Spruill and her teaching artists, she begins to trust herself enough to share her story. And once she shares her story, which is cathartic in its own right, Spruill says, “now she knows the power of her authentic voice and how it doesn’t just help herself, but helps other people too.”
“These are kids from marginalized, disenfranchised communities. But I want to show them what your life can be—I want you to ride around in a Hummer limousine and walk the red carpet,” she says. “I want you to experience this. I want you to know it’s possible.”
But Philly kids aren’t alone in that need for support: In Boston, where our opponents this weekend, the New England Patriots, will be coming from, 71 percent of students are economically disadvantaged. Kids here, there, and around the country need mentors, whether in film or any other realm, and I love any program that instills hope and opportunity into the minds of kids, especially kids who live in areas where there often isn’t any hope.
Spruill wants to show her kids all that’s out there for them—she’s been known, when premiering kids’ films, to rent out entire movie theaters, roll out at a real red carpet, and hire a limo, all in the name of making kids feel like stars. “These are kids from marginalized, disenfranchised communities. But I want to show them what your life can be—I want you to ride around in a Hummer limousine and walk the red carpet,” she says. “I want you to experience this. I want you to know it’s possible.”
Next week, we’re playing Seattle, and I’ll tell you about an incredible reading program run by the devoted folks at CHOP.