Video Volunteers' Founding Director Speaks at United Nations July 10th

NEW YORK, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Video Volunteers' Founding Director Jessica Mayberry will speak at the IFP/UN-sponsored "ENVISION: Addressing Global Issues through Documentaries" conference on Saturday, July 10th. She will present videos made by Video Volunteers' network of 150 economically disadvantaged rural Indian video news producers.

"The UN is recognizing the capacities of the rural poor to shape their own messages on social change and to lead the conversation," says Ms. Mayberry. "This is a core part of our mission at Video Volunteers, and we are honored to participate in such a trendsetting conference."

The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN DPI) will hold the event on Saturday, July 10th in New York City. It will combine film presentations with substantive, live-audience discussions. The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) serve as the focal point for presentations, screenings, panel discussions and social networking.

The Spotlight Focus for Envision in 2010 will be exploring creative solutions to our global education crisis, specifically focusing on the UN's Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education. Leaders from the international filmmaking community, prominent UN representatives, entrepreneurs, activists, journalists, economists, public policy makers, and NGOs will participate.

Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyo Akasaka states: "Envision will once again offer a unique opportunity for the international filmmaking and humanitarian communities to grapple with some of the most urgent social issues of our time. With only five years remaining to the MDG target date of 2015, filmmakers are key partners for bringing the message of the United Nations to the public."

Jessica Mayberry will speak on a panel titled "Telling Their Own Stories: The Impact of User-Generated Media and the Individual as Documentarian." It will present a series of community-produced videos about education conditions around the globe from human rights organizations Witness, World Without Walls, Video Volunteers, UNICEF and Breakthrough.

About Video Volunteers

Video Volunteers' mission is to empower the world's poorest citizens to right the wrongs they witness by becoming players in the global media revolution. Video Volunteers provides disadvantaged communities with journalistic, critical thinking and creative skills, and creates locally owned and managed "community media units" that teach people to articulate and share their perspectives on the issues that matter to them – on a local and global scale.

Since 2003, Video Volunteers has trained more than 300 people – former diamond polishers, rickshaw drivers and day laborers – as Community Producers. Most are working full-time in slums and villages; their media has been seen by more than 250,000 people in thousands of widescreen village screenings.

Active in India and Brazil, Video Volunteers has partnered with leading organizations, including Witness, the Global Fund for Children, Pangea Day, and MTV.

Video Volunteers has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Knight News Challenge, a prestigious journalism award; an Echoing Green Fellowship, the premier recognition for young social entrepreneurs; a Tech Award; and the Manthan Award, as well as winning the NYU Stern Business Plan Competition. Jessica Mayberry has been recognized as an "Architect of the Future" by the Waldzell Institute of Austria and was named a TED Fellow. In 2008, Video Volunteers was shortlisted for the International Development Prize of the King Baudouin Foundation of Belgium.

For further information, please visit www.videovolunteers.org, or call Trang Mar at 212-588-8788 to speak with Ms. Mayberry or others at Video Volunteers.

SOURCE Video Volunteers