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 About Street-Level Youth Media
Street-Level Youth Media’s mission is to educate Chicago’s underserved youth in the media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication, and social change. Street-Level’s programs build critical thinking skills in youth who have been historically neglected by public policy makers and the mass media. Using video and audio production, computer and the Internet, young people at Street-Level address community issues, access advanced technology, and gain inclusion in our information-based society. Annually, Street-Level reaches nearly Chicago youth ages 8-22 through our year-round community and school-based programs.
Street-Level gives youth the opportunity to discover their potential by empowering them to find their own voice through the digital arts within a fun and innovative learning environment. In teaching the creative process, Street-Level fosters the artistic expression, social consciousness, and technical competency of our youth participants. The media work that youth create—whether a narrative video, audio documentary, or graphic design poster—often addresses community issues, is original, and challenges mainstream stereotypes. As Street-Level youth learn to strengthen their ideas and articulate their unique perspective of the world, they build important creative and analytical skills that are essential for the 21st century.
Since 2000, Street-Level had been operating a central program site and administration office in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood. The program center had offered year-round media arts workshops while also serving as an open access neighborhood technology center and a community screening venue, performance space, and gallery that showcased youth work. On October 12, 2008, the building where our center was located suffered a fire causing all tenants to vacate its premises. While no individuals were harmed, the extensive damage to Street-Level’s center and our business property forced us to close down this site. Last November, Street-Level relocated to a new site where we currently have our office and offer some of our after-school programs. While our temporary site does not allow Street-Level to offer all the space and amenities available at our previous location, we have been providing programs here since the start of 2009. We anticipate that we will be at this temporary location for at least a year, during which time Street-Level is conducting further planning around development of a larger, centralized program center and office.
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Because the staff and board do not have experience in the area of space planning, we sought to identify folks who could help with our Space Committee and our goal to identify and develop a new site that will serve as Street-Level’s future home. Through WomenOnCall.org, we have recruited Sonya Hene to join our Space Committee. Sonya comes to us with a background in real estate, and she has been helping us with our space project development and decision-making, providing guidance as we work with a broker to identify potential locations; as we are interviewing architectural firms and other consultants; and refining our timeline and budget for the project. We’re really grateful to have someone with professional real estate knowledge on our Space Committee, because without Sonya’s assistance, I don’t think we would have made the progress we’ve had on our project.
 About Sonya Hene
Sonya has over 20 years of real estate acquisition and development experience, and a Master's degree in City and Regional Planning from Rutgers University. Most recently, she was responsible for acquiring property and obtaining government approvals for new Home Depot stores in the Midwest. This experience dovetails perfectly with Street Level Youth Media's need for someone to assist with identifying potential locations, interview and hire an architect and eventually negotiate a lease or contract for the new facility.
Sonya thoroughly enjoyed helping Street Level search for new space in Chicago. Working with Manwah and the Board's outstanding site selection committee is not only gratifying, but it's a powerful reminder of why she loves and misses her career in real estate development so much! She hopes that her expertise will result in an economical, viable and thriving location for this dedicated group and the kids who depend on their organization. In addition, she plans to continue her involvement with WomenOnCall.org, and hopes to be retained by other not- for-profits in the future.
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