ACE Spectrum

Working Remotely, the KALW Team Has Stepped Up to Provide Important News in Critical Times

Posted by Martha Sessums on Sep 4, 2020 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW Public Supported Radio and Babette Thomas, Newsroom Summer Trainee

We’ve entered September, and now we’re just two months away from Election Day. It’s extraordinary that, as we move into this critical time, we’re facing so many crises as a society right now:

– the novel coronavirus pandemic

– a long overdue reckoning with entrenched, systemic racism

– two of the three largest wildfires in California history happening simultaneously, and with another, forcing evacuations and filling the Bay Area with smoke

– a seemingly irreconcilable political divide in our country

It’s overwhelming. Exhausting. It’s also enlightening. And it can be empowering. For certain, it provides endless material for, and validation of, good journalism. Our team at KALW has stepped up for many months, now, working remotely, and diligently, to provide news and information for the Bay Area. And in the process, we’ve been training 18 people, remotely, who are learning in the most extreme and important conditions.

For one thing, they’ve made Election Briefs about all 12 state propositions, and we’re nearing completion of all 13 San Francisco ballot measures. From there, we’ll move on to all the rest of the Bay Area counties and all their ballot measures as well. Here are a few examples:

San Francisco Measure F: Overhauling Business Taxes — Sarah Lai Stirland

San Francisco Measure E: Police Department Staffing Levels — Noor Bouzidi

California Proposition 21: Rent Control — Vivian Bossieux-Skinner

And we’ve been knocking out several stories a day about the topics that our listeners need to know about right now. Such as:

Bullet Tracing Bill Reaches Governor’s Desk — Bee Soll

San Francisco Set To Cut Some Money From The Police Department — Precious Green

California’s Struggle To Fight Fires On Multiple Fronts — Imran Ali Malik

Imran has now started classes at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. And his Audio Academy classmate Julia Llinas Goodman is joining the podcast Flash Forward as an associate producer. Meanwhile, Julia’s been building their engineering skills along with Chris Egusa, and they may both have a hand in the next season of tbh, our podcast by, about, and for teenagers, which is wrapping production right now.

As the host of tbh season, Samuel Getaches, once said, “There’s a lot to talk about!”

But enough from me. I’m going to make way for Babette Thomas, one of our summer trainees, who will be wrapping up her regular newsroom duties in the next couple of weeks:

I came in as a news intern at KALW at two very transitional moments in my life — only days after graduating from college and during the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. At the intersection of these two life upending moments, I felt uncertain with just about everything. I was moving back home to Oakland after four years of school. And I was nervous for what it might be like to work at a radio station remotely! But, in these moments of turbulence, KALW provided me with structure, guidance, encouragement and the opportunity to really grow as a producer.

I came to KALW having previously worked as a radio producer in college, in a combination of more experimental and conventional podcasting settings. I knew, and still know, that I want to pursue a career in radio. But I had heard so many horror stories from friends, that your first few opportunities in radio can really hamper your voice, as you attempt to conform to the voice of the show or program. This has pretty much been the opposite of my experience at Crosscurrents. If anything, I have been able to hone in on my voice as a producer, in ways that far exceeded my expectations. Through the guidance of the lovely editors and other members of staff, I have learned how to convey my ideas more concisely and directly. And I believe my writing has really improved. 

At KALW, I have had a great sense of autonomy in all phases of production, from coming up with story ideas to sound engineering. I’ve even been able to add my own personality into the minute-long news spots. And I have learned so much about what structurally goes into producing a news program, through hands on learning–even in a remote setting! In the past couple months, I’ve been in the driver seat of my own learning experience; I’ve been able to report on stories that interest me, and tell these stories in ways that feel true to who I am as a producer. KALW has gifted me with the knowledge and tools that I believe will greatly assist me on my journey as a radio producer! And I am incredibly grateful! 

Welcome to the New School Year Where ACE Learning Centers Keep Up the Good Work

Posted by Martha Sessums on Aug 26, 2020 in ACE Learning Center, ACE Partners, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Martha Sessums, President, ACE

Education has its challenges this new school year. Many students are learning from home and classes are online or via video conferences with teachers and classmates.

But making connections isn’t easy. Personal connections with friends, teachers or counselors is tough when their images are on a screen or a bunch of small boxes on a screen. Plus, in order to have access to an online class the network connection becomes key. The device any student is working on must function well and it must be connected to an operating network. No network. No school.

Through the changing times that started in March, the ACE Learning Centers retooled their efforts to support their learning communities. The KALW Audio Academy students learned reporting skills on Zoom with the radio station’s editors and management, and then prepared important, newsworthy audio stories that were broadcast. They also had their graduation ceremony online. The new Audio Academy class of 2020/21 has been chosen and students will start their lessons soon – also online.

The Parent Learning Center at Alpha Public Schools moved English classes online and offered Chromebooks to adult students. They also created the Alpha Family Emergency Fund that raised money to give to families that were forced to stop working because their jobs were closed. The Food Bank sponsored by the Parent Learning Center started distributing food to almost double the number of families and instituted drive-thru to keep everyone safe. These needs will continue to be met for the new school year.

The Oakland International High School (OIHS) ACE Learning Center also moved classes and connections online for students and included weekly phone calls to check on overall well-being for some students. Families were referred to wellness services including Food Banks. For students, there was tablet distribution and internet access support so they could continue to attend classes virtually and earn credits to graduate and complete community college classes.

As Lauren Markham, Director, OIHS Learning Lab, said, “At a time when newly arrived immigrants are demonized and when low-income communities across the US struggle mightily to weather this pandemic and its massive fallouts, we are proud to be a source of stability, support and community connection for our students and families during these unprecedented times.”

One focus of the San Francisco International High School (SFIHS) ACE Learning Center is classes for English and math skills. With the move to distance learning, it was essential that students had access to computers and network connections, and even one-on-one support was provided online. With the SPAN program, many of the students are returning to colleges this new school year and will continue to connect with online advisors and coach SFIHS graduates that are first-year college students as mentors.

Each one of these ACE Learning Centers has had to rethink their processes in new and creative ways to meet this new school year’s challenges. From a wide variety of online classes to equipment to network connections to support for economic and emotional stress, the ACE Learning Centers have delivered and will continue to deliver. ACE is honored to be able to support these amazing professionals who make real connections.

Stay tuned for many stories of students and parents who excel with the help of the teachers and administrators at ACE Learning Centers. These stories will show off everyone’s challenges and successes.

The KALW Reporting Community Excels and Gets the Job Done

Posted by Martha Sessums on Aug 12, 2020 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW and Noor Bouzidi, KALW Summer Trainee

I was reading an industry publication and saw that Alyssa Jeong Perry — a woman we helped teach radio at KALW — was recently hired as a producer at NPR‘s Code Switch. Great show! Great person! It made me think about some of the other people we’ve trained and what they’re up to, now. Here’s a (partial) list:

Isabel Angell — Senior producer with NBC News‘ politics podcasts

Jen Chien — Senior radio editor with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting

Liz Mak — Senior podcast producer with Condé Nast

Ted Muldoon — Sound designer, composer, audio producer with The Washington Post

Beatrice Thomas — Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow

Todd Whitney — Podcast host with Microsoft

And there are a lot more interesting stories of KALW alums out there!

One that’s being written right now is by current trainee Noor Bouzidi. Her reporting interests are housing insecurity, immigration, economy and all issues around systemic poverty in California. In the past, Noor interned with KCRW, writing and producing for their morning and evening news shows. Her work has been featured in FEM Newsmagazine, where she wrote profiles on Middle Eastern/North African artists. She has a degree from UCLA in Linguistics & Anthropology.

Noor is about to take part in a fellowship with NPR’s Next Gen project, which provides an intensive, one-week crash course in story production. She’s gotten a head start in our summer program. Here’s what she has to say about it:

I graduated from UCLA in June. My fellow 2020 graduates and I have had the incredible luck of graduating into a state of the world that makes your typical post-grad anxiety seem quaint. No part of me right now is certain about my future.

Despite everything, my Tuesday mornings are always a little bit brighter than most days. I wake up knowing that, by the end of that day, I will have created something. Working remotely, it’s so easy to feel isolated. But as this remote structure has matured, and all of us with it, I’ve only felt the support grow. One phone call, Zoom chat, or one Slack message even, eases my feelings of frustration and reminds me of the community I’m a part of. Each story I create feels like a victory, and I actually just wouldn’t be able to get them done without this program. I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned from a team I’ve never physically met before but know that they’re there for me. I’ve looked forward to the seminars more than anything, because they’re a chance to clarify our questions, workshop our ideas, and just bond with one another other and with the seminar teachers. All in all, this program has grounded me amidst a summer of uncertainty.