Impact 100 announced today that Activities Beyond The Classroom (ABC)/Fourthwall Youth Studios has been selected as a 2019 Impact 100 Grant Recipient. The $109,000 grant award will help fund the purchase and design of a mobile video truck, enabling ABC/Fourthwall to offer their award winning filmmaking program to students throughout the Cincinnati area. Currently, the program is only offered in Over the Rhine.
“We are thrilled to be able to expand our program in this way,” says Frank O’Farrell, Director of Fourthwall Youth Studios, “and we are so grateful to Impact 100 for this award, their vision and their unwavering support for area non-profits.”
The grant will help to fund a turnkey mobile video truck and will enable ABC/Fourthwall to bring its program to students in area communities, which is especially beneficial to those who cannot find transportation to Fourthwall’s OTR-based studio.
“Filmmaking and Digital Storytelling are sophisticated and crucial skills to teach our young people, with benefits that last a lifetime,” says O’Farrell. “Not only will students learn the techniques behind storytelling and carve out new, exciting career pathways, they will also gain valuable 21st century skills transferable to any career path they choose. This grant and the mobile truck, which we call The Struggle Bus, will allow us to reach more kids and maximize the amount of time students spend learning.”
Fourthwall is a program of ABC, a nonprofit that provides free extracurricular activities—including athletics, arts and enrichment—to 15,000 children in Cincinnati Public Schools. This new offering, through Fourthwall, is another step in its mission to be the leader in after school program management and delivery, ensuring that every Cincinnati Public Schools student has the opportunity to participate in the extracurricular activity of their choice.
This is the second time Activities Beyond the Classroom has been a recipient of an Impact 100 grant. In 2015, Impact 100 funded the renovation of “The Mack,” an athletic complex at Hughes High School. Brian Leshner, Executive Director of Activities Beyond the Classroom, said, “It is an honor to receive another Impact 100 grant, and we’d like to extend a huge congratulations to the other 2019 finalists, including Joy Outdoor Education Center, NEST Community Learning Center, St. Vincent de Paul Charitable Pharmacy, and Cincinnati Works, Inc. All are incredibly deserving organizations that help make Cincinnati the amazing city it is.”
