St Paul Neighborhood Network

Programs: Community technology education project (ctep) - a nationally unique program to combat the digital divide, ctep americorps places 35 members at community sites throughout the twin cities. These members assist new americans and low income communities how to use technology to better access social, civic, educational, and economic opportunities. Members run open community computer labs and teach basic digital job skills, media making, and digital storytelling. In addition, spnn provides significant professional development and training for the cohort of ctep americorps members. Last year, our participants trained over 2,400 job seekers and helped almost 650 secure new or better employment.

community productions - spnn's community productions team produces in-house content for channel 19 - programs like st. Paul forum and candy fresh, covers local happenings like st. Paul's winter carnival, and helps local non-profits with their video production needs. Our emmy-nominated documentary, hmong pioneers: honoring the first wave is another great product of our community productions team. With over 60 years of combined video production experience and a passion for the life and culture of st. Paul, the members of our production team helps bring st. Paul to a global audience.

community access - the historical heart of spnn, the community access team is dedicated to bringing the transformative power of media and technology to the people of st. Paul. Through access, we offer classes on everything from basic camera operations to advanced lighting and editing. Our 250 members have access to a full fleet of professional-grade camcorders, light kits, microphones, and a 2,600 square foot hd television studio. All of these resources are available at low cost, and we make accomodations for low-income members of the community. Our doc u program, which brings in a cohort of 12 participants with little to no media experience and helps them make a documentary on the topic of their choosing, is another effort of the community access team.

youth - spnn youth programs provides after-school, summer school and neighborhood media programs for middle school aged youth to young adults in the saint paul community, focused on leadership development, skill building and career exploration. Spnn youth programs provides saint paul youth with the opportunity to create community media with a lasting impact. Through fun and engaged programs, youth develop skills in media production, critical thinking, and community awareness. As an alternative to mainstream media, spnn works to increase youth media visibility on its channels and on the web. Youth are active members of the spnn youth programs as participants, mentors, and leaders, and work with spnn staff to create youth-driven programs. Master control - spnn operates four non-commercial channels on the cable system in st. Paul. We offer multi-fath programming on channel 14, public access on channel 15, youth and educational programming on channel 16, and in-house programming and community events on channel 19.