Crossing Fences project tells stories of Pittsburgh’s African-American men and boys

They are stories meant to inspire and help show the value of mentoring and role models for young African-American men, told in their own words, and the words of men who have paved the way for them.

The latest installment in SLB Radio‘s Crossing Fences audio history program will be released Tuesday at a celebration event. Now in its fourth year, Crossing Fences, produced by the same team behind the Saturday Light Brigade program, has trained more than 130 African-American teenage boys in 12 Pittsburgh neighborhoods to record the audio histories of men in their communities.

“As a conduit for youth media learning for more than 30 years, the staff at SLB Radio is proud to work with the talented youth in our Pittsburgh communities,” says Larry Berger, executive director of SLB Radio.

The program uses a multimedia approach, Berger says, where students are trained to record, edit and distribute the stories, and offer their personal reflections. It also includes training from the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

The program was started by SLB in 2012, and has highlighted the stories of men from the Hill District, Homewood, East Liberty, McKeesport and other local neighborhoods. The latest installment connected men and teens from Braddock, Homestead and Sheraden.

SLB’s partners in bringing the program together included the Braddock Youth Project, the Homestead Youth Project and Trinity AME Zion Church of Pittsburgh. It’s sponsored by The Heinz Endowments.

The students’ work will be recognized at the Citywide Crossing Fences Celebration on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the August Wilson Center.  The event is open to the public. Go here to RSVP. 

Additional celebrations in each community will be held in the coming weeks:
Carnegie Library of Homestead. Dec 1 from 4 to 6 p.m.
Nyia Page Community Center in Braddock, Dec. 2 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Trinity AME Zion Church in Sheraden Dec. 3 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Audio, text and youth reflections from the 141 interviews conducted across 12 neighborhoods to date are also available at neighborhoodvoices.org/crossingfences. Three additional neighborhoods will be added in 2016.

Featured image courtesy  SLB Radio.