About Me

CTVN was founded in 1974 by Executive Director Denise Zaccardi as a special project of the Alternative Schools Network. Since then, over 8,000 at-risk Chicago youth have graduated from CTVN’s long-term programs, producing insightful media for their communities. Our mission is to empower low-income young adults and children in Chicago to identify, address, and resolve issues through the use and understanding of digital media arts. By learning how to express themselves through video production, youth gain the opportunity to investigate their cultural roots and think critically about the world they live in while presenting their ideas to a nationwide audience. As applied by the CTVN media-literacy curriculum, video continually proves to be a successful, alternative method of enhancing academic learning, developing essential skills that are prerequisite to success in other subjects. Through production and on-the-job media training, youth develop job skills, leadership abilities, teamwork, organization, time management, visual aptitude, and literacy. CTVN made possible the Manhood project.