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Creating a Legacy

Published on June 26, 2001

Part One

Six years ago when director Tod Lending sat down for an interview with Dorothy Jackson, a resident of Chicago's notorious Henry Horner housing projects, he didn't know what it would yield. He didn't know that two hours later her 14-year-old grandson Terrell Collins would be murdered in the projects. He didn't know that he would spend the next five years following her family's struggles. He didn't know that work would yield the documentary Legacy. He didn't know that the film would become a catalyst for community activism across the country.

Alaissa, Dorothy and Wanda Collins

After debuting at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, the 90-minute Legacy is scheduled for broadcast on HBO in spring 2001. Meanwhile, several organizations are using the film as a teaching tool in poor urban communities.

Complimentary copy of the Legacy of Community Action videotape (35 min.): Please e-mail your request to Ken Ravitz at outext@aol.com. Since the tape is free only to nonprofit organizations that will use it in community settings, your request must specify your target audience and how you will use it. Along with the videotape, you will receive a short answer evaluation form to report the results of your activities. Visit www.legacymovie.com for ideas on how to use the videotape.

Narrated by Terrell's 21-year-old cousin Nickcole, Legacy weaves together the stories of five family members. Nickcole becomes the first in her family to graduate from high school. Her cousin Jack struggles with depression after Terrell's death. Her aunt Wanda breaks free from drug abuse. Her mother Alaissa overcomes three generations of welfare to establish self-sufficiency. Her grandmother Dorothy leaves the projects for a new home.

The film helps us better understand the cycle of poverty that grips inner city America. But it also shows how the Collins family loosened that grip through their determination, faith and community support. In order to reach the communities that need the film the most, Lending partnered with Outreach Extensions, a national consulting firm that has been conducting media initiatives for seven years. Outreach Extensions typically works on public television projects such as Lending's earlier series No Time To Be a Child. "Many public stations already have a system in place for outreach" explains Judy Ravitz, President of Outreach Extensions. "HBO doesn't. This is a pioneering effort to create outreach for cable television."

Outreach Extensions created a Web site, http://www.legacymovie.com, and a package of written materials for activists to consult when screening the film. The package, called the "Legacy Community Action Toolbox," targets five discussion areas around the program: 1) youth development; 2) grand parenting; 3) families in public housing: 4) economic literacy; and 5) faith-based community. Lending edited a 35-minute version of the film to make it easier for organizations to have time for discussions.

The Legacy toolbox began circulating in spring 2000. Ravitz expects the outreach campaign to continue at least through fall 2001. The campaign received around $600,000 of initial funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Ravitz hopes to raise a second round of funds bringing the total outreach budget to $1 million.

When screening Legacy for inner city audiences, discussion leaders encourage viewers to talk about solutions to their own problems. Strive, a national group that helps welfare recipients prepare for the workforce, is one of many non-profits using Legacy. Their clients can especially relate to the scenes of Alaissa suffering from a frustrating job hunt. Lending recalls a screening that he attended with Alaissa and Nickcole in San Francisco. "There were about 300 students from the inner city who came to see it. I thought no way will they sit through a 90-minute movie without rap music. And to my surprise they were riveted. A large group of black girls came up to Nikki and Alaissa and they were crying. They wanted to be held by them and they wanted to tell them their stories. It was so moving for me to see not only the kids [react to] the film, but to see Nikki and Alaissa. It was like they were getting something back from having partaken. As a documentary filmmaker you always feel like you're taking, taking, taking. So it's incredibly uplifting to see something coming back to your subjects."

Outreach Extensions: Outreach Extensions is a national consulting firm. They represent networks or independent producers and sometimes public television stations to extend the life of a program beyond the television experience into community and educational institutions.

"While the story of LEGACY is important to general audiences, its content and messages are particularly compelling for special audiences - which the production and outreach opportunities will seek to engage in action. These include residents of public housing, grandparents raising their grandchildren, African-American congregations, policymakers, people of color, high risk youth, families living in poverty, families dealing with substance abuse, families affected by violence and families in life-changing transitions.

"The eventual triumph of the Collins family powerfully illustrates the possibility that more families can reach stability and safety." --Judy Ravitz, Outreach Extensions

Thom Powers is the co-owner of Sugar Pictures in New York City.

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