Local Teen Wins Award for "Kids with Kids" DOM TV Show

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Local Teen Wins Award for "Kids with Kids" TV Show
TeRay Esquibel awarded Alliance for Community Media's Hometown Video Award

DENVER, CO ­— July 5, 2011 — A youth-produced talk show created by teen dad TeRay Esquibel with support from Open Media Foundation (OMF) and Denver Child Support is being awarded the Empowerment: Hometown Video Award bestowed by The Alliance for Community Media (ACM). This video is one of a select few to win the award.

The 45 minute talk show was produced, written and hosted by 17-year-old TeRay Esquibel, as part of the Parent Up Denver program, which encourages young parents, through the use of new and traditional media, outreach and conversation, to support their children. All crew positions were filled by youth members of OMF's "Open Media Generation" youth production group.

“Kids with Kids”, features teen and twenty-something dads talking to Esquibel about their experience being young dads.  The show also features Esquibel’s biological dad and their relationship growing up. An intriguing segment of the show features Jose Guererro who expresses “Father Love”, a poem he wrote about his son’s mother abandoning his child, his initial fears as a father, and the meaning of father love.

“The show gave me the chance to change the perspective of what people think about dads. That’s why I asked my dad to be on the show and talk about how he was there for me. I invited Jose because he was a reverse side of the traditional stereotype of what we see of parents; a dad raising his kid without the mom. I hope this show empowers other young dads to be there for their kids,” Esquibel said.

“The Open Media Foundation is so proud of TeRay and the Open Media Generation youth group for the great work they did on this and other programs.  Unlike previous awards given to our OMG youth group, this show was recognized, not in a youth production category, but as a general show; meaning it was recognized for excellence in comparison with shows produced by adult professionals,” Tony Shawcross, executive director of Open Media Foundation said.

“We are thrilled TeRay’s video is receiving national recognition,” Elizabeth Calvert, Denver Child Support director said.  “He is an amazing young man who has shown that young parents can be great parents.  We hope his talk show will create conversation about what it’s like to be a young parent and give other young parents the encouragement they might need to be there and support their children.”

Esquibel recently graduated from Lincoln High School and plans to attend Denver University on a Daniels Fund scholarship. He has a 1-year-old son and is still together with the mother of his son. He is a spokes-parent for Parent Up Denver.

To view the studio show, please visit http://www.denveropenmedia.org/project/spotlight-students-sos/show/spotlight-students-kids-with-kids.

To view Esquibel’s and other young parents’ shorter videos, please visit www.parentupdenver.org or www.youtube.com/parentup.

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About The Hometown Video Awards
The Hometown Video Awards honors and promotes community media, and local cable programs that are distributed on Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access cable television channels. Awards are presented to creative programs that address community needs, develop diverse community involvement, challenge conventional commercial television formats and move viewers to experiences television in a different way.

About Parent Up Denver
Parent Up Denver encourages young parents, through new and traditional media, community outreach, and young parent spokes parents, to support their children. The program is funded by a grant managed by Denver Human Services Child Support Office, which was awarded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement. Open Media Foundation is partnering with DHS on the grant. For more information about Parent Up Denver, visit www.parentupdenver.org or www.youtube.com/parentup.

About Open Media Foundation
The Open Media Foundation (OMF) is an innovative media and technology nonprofit organization dedicated to putting the power of the media in the hands of the people, enabling everyone to engage in their community and bring about the change they wish to see in the world. OMF provides web development and video production services to local nonprofit and government organizations, provides affordable media training programs, and operates Denver's community-run Public Access TV stations in Denver Open Media. OMF also operates coloradochannel.net, a state-wide web and TV station designed to make Colorado State Government open, accessible and transparent.