Basic Organization Information
Critical Exposure, Inc.
- Physical Address:
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Washington, DC
20009
- EIN:
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26-2829875
- Web URL:
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www.criticalexposure.org
- NTEE Category:
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O Youth Development
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O50 Youth Development Programs
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R Civil Rights, Social Action, Advocacy
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R20 Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups
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A Arts, Culture, and Humanities
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A40 Visual Arts Organizations
- Year Founded:
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2006
- Ruling Year:
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2008
- How This Organization Is Funded:
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Foundation Grants - $100,000
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Individual Donors - $40,000
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Earned Income/Contracts - $35,000
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Mission Statement
<div>Critical Exposure teaches youth to use the power of photography and their own voices to become effective advocates for school reform and social change. Through partnerships with youth programs and advocacy organizations, we seek to create a connection between art and advocacy using a three-pronged approach that focuses on:</div>
<div>
<ol type="1">
<li><strong>Youth Empowerment</strong> – Provide students with training in documentary photography, leadership, and advocacy; teach them how to document issues directly affecting their lives; and help them to use their images and voices to build support for policies that will improve their education and communities.
</li>
<li><strong>Public Engagement</strong> – Inform and engage the public by using students’ photographs and writing to create traveling exhibits that can be shown in galleries, libraries, coffee shops, and other public spaces in order to build public support for solutions to problems facing youth.
</li>
<li><strong>Policy Change</strong> – Partner with advocacy and community organizations to implement creative strategies that use youth photography and voices to strengthen campaigns to improve public schools and the lives of youth. </li>
</ol>
</div>
Expert Assessment
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Impact Summary from the Nonprofit
<p>To date Critical Exposure has worked with <strong>more than 450 students</strong> in D.C., New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Austin, and Albuquerque. Participating students have learned to use photography as a both a vehicle for self-expression and an advocacy tool. Thousands of people have seen the students’ images through public exhibits, community events, legislative hearings, and media coverage, including <strong><em>The Oprah Winfrey Show</em>, CNN’s <em>Anderson Cooper 360</em>, PBS, NPR, <em>The Washington Post</em>, <em>The Baltimore Sun, </em>and <em>The Philadelphia Inquirer</em></strong>.</p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, the students and their images have helped effect significant reforms in public education. Our largest and most recent victory occurred in Pennsylvania where, thanks to the work of our partners and the impact of the students’ photographs and testimony, the General Assembly <strong>increased funding for public schools by $275 million and adopted a fairer system for distributing that funding</strong>.</p>
We are currently working with students in D.C. to document the factors that they believe contribute to the city's dropout crisis and in New Orleans to document public school conditions after Hurricane Katrina.
Revenue and Expenses
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Revenue and Expense data from Forms 990 for 2011, 2010 are included in the GuideStar Premium Report.
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Leadership
Adam Levner
Term:
Since
Mar
2006
Profile:
<p>Adam has worked in the education arena for the last 12 years. He began as a fifth grade teacher, where he saw firsthand the issues confronting educators, parents, and students. He then moved beyond the classroom, taking a position as a community organizer with Stand for Children where he led successful reform efforts at the local/state level that resulted in over $20 million annually in additional revenue for the severely under-funded Prince George’s County, MD school district. Adam has also worked as an education consultant for the Center for Community Change and as a freelance photographer, with clients including the Maryland ACLU, DC Scores, the American Federation of Teachers, and the Marshall-Brennan Program.</p>
Highest Paid Employees & Their Compensation
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Program:
Photography & advocacy training for children and youth
- Budget:
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--
- Category:
-
- Population Served:
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Children and Youth (infants - 19 years.)
Program Description:
<div>Critical Exposure partners with schools, afterschool programs, and youth groups to provide students with an innovative, hands-on training program that teaches students visual and written literacy skills. Through a series of workshops, students have the opportunity to: identify issues that impact their lives; develop “shot lists” of images that will help tell their stories; take photographs and write captions, poetry and essays; identify potential exhibit sites and venues; give presentations at exhibit openings and public events; speak to the media; and testify publicly and directly to policymakers about their photographs and the need for positive solutions to problems that affect their daily lives. <br />
<br />
Students also discuss specific audiences they want to reach, strategies for reaching them, and their messages. These audiences include the community at large, the media, and policymakers in a position to address their concerns. After developing a game plan, students put their ideas into action. This practical experience helps students to develop leadership and advocacy skills, to recognize the power of their own voices, and to take responsibility for seeking solutions to problems they care about. Students learn that they can translate their ideas and views into actions that can lead to positive changes in their schools and communities.</div>
Program Long-Term Success:
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Evidence of Impact
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Organizational Strengths
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