In 1985, former executive director, Careth Reid, introduced a photography department to the children of Whitney Young. Reid's well known love for the Arts became her vision of running a school-of-the-arts center for children. It was her fascination of black and white photography that inspired her to introduce this art form to her kids. Reid believed that children, given the right instruction and hands-on approach, could capture the life often found in award winning photos. Children were given professional cameras and were let lose into the community to see the world behind the lens. The children not only learned to become photographers, but also were trained in developing their own work. This program ran until 2001, when the program lost its funding and was temporarily closed. For 16 years photography became a part of Whitney Young's arts-based program. And in these 16 years, hundreds of photos were created, some of which are award winners, seen on this page.

Whitney Young is looking to collaborate with a private funder to reintroduce our children's photography program and create a collection of photographs and children's essays describing the pictures in a self-published hardback book portraying the urban inner-cities of San Francisco where our children reside. This collection, My Community, Through the Eyes of a Child, will show photographs taken and developed by children, our young artists, along with photographs of the children in action taking shots, by the project artists. This hardback will hold 200 black and white photographs and essays along with photographs and journal excerpts from the collaborating artists describing their experiences with the children. This finished product is designed to promote the agency's fine arts department, and will also allow the funder to have a finished product showcasing their community support.

A lead collaborating artist, will captured the integrity, truth and veiled realities of our inner cities. Whitney Young specializes in multicultural experiencesand will capture our mission without words.

The finished work will be displayed and sold in exhibits citywide, as well as in the Whitney Young Cultural Center Mansion's art exhibits (recently featured in SF Examiner 9/25/02) which occur eight times per year, including Open Studios San Francisco each October. The work will also be included in community based events the organization participates in throughout the year. Further outreach will occur from the publisher, Xlibris Publishing, who will release the book on all e-retail book houses, and to local retail chain bookstores. This project has the capability of giving WYCDC, Kirsten Hepburn and Bank of America vast exposure.