Women on Welfare Utilizing Technology

Women on welfare don't often find opportunities to develop skills that let them master advanced technologies. Nor do they get many chances to let their voices be heard beyond their communities. But through an innovative program with the National Radio Project and The Women's Desk, a group of women are learning every step of radio documentary production and producing moving stories about how women in poverty are marginalized in society.

The National Radio Project ( NRP) in Oakland, California, has emerged as a leading independent broadcast venture in the San Francisco Bay Area. NRP, a 10-year-old nonprofit run by volunteers and a small staff, is committed to progressive ideas, investigative journalism, and training individuals and grassroots organizations in the community. Trainees, interns, freelancers, and staff work together to produce NRP's weekly documentary series, "Making Contact." This public affairs and news program is distributed to 160 stations across the U.S., Canada, and South Africa.

I became involved with the NRP through The Women's Desk , one of four editorial and training desks that contribute to the production of "Making Contact." The goal of The Women's Desk is to produce radio shows that represent the issues and perspectives important to women in order to overcome sexist, divisive messages prevalent in the media.

The vision of executive director Lisa Rudman has ignited the Desk's most recent project, the Welfare Radio Collaborative. This project trains and pays women on welfare to produce a show detailing the criminalization of women in poverty. The show will be aired in the late spring as part of the "Making Contact" series. (Check the National Radio ProjectWeb site for details on this and other shows in the series.) Through a small grant awarded by the Women's Foundation of California and Oakland's Women of Color Resource Center , this ambitious project has launched.

I have been impressed by the trust that the organization has in every woman's abilities and by the level of technical training provided. There is an attitude of inclusiveness that is unparalleled by other groups I've seen. I credit this to the Rudman's intuitive stewardship. She understands that women in our society learn to shy away from technical careers and therefore emphasizes esteem-building and the importance of celebrating small successes.

Along with Rudman, journalism mentors and I have been teaching women the fundamentals of production. Training includes lessons in digital editing and recording, with an emphasis on the importance sound quality has for telling a compelling story.

The Women's Desk walks the trainees through every step of documentary production. The women go into the field with mini-disc recorders to record interviews, return to the studio to transcribe and dub all audio material into the computer, and then digitally edit each segment in Sound Forge .

Their progress has been astounding. Only a few weeks ago, my trainee was too intimidated to hold a microphone. Now she can engineer an entire studio interview on the computer.

While it's a slow process with real-world deadlines and much to do, this project has been beneficial to everyone involved. It has given me a solid foundation to begin a career in journalism, and more importantly, a foundation in media activism. Witnessing the evolution of this project and the growing confidence of the women involved is immensely empowering. Whether or not these women use their skills elsewhere, they will walk away from this project knowing how to tell their stories, how to make their voices heard in their communities and beyond, and how to reclaim their images that have been so distorted in the mass media.