The Technological Empowerment and Media Project of Oakland (TEMPO)is an innovative leadership development and audio production skills training program for no and low-income women of color. In an environment where the voices of low-income women of color are often marginalized and rarely heard due to the fact that they are most often faced with the most substantial burdens of racism, sexism and classism, we bring you, “Women of Color Behind the Mic: Empower Yourself through Media and Technology”.

Our session will present on the ways in which the Women of Color Resource Center has implemented TEMPO as a means that utilizes media to train low-income women of color in the production skills necessary to create audio documentaries about the issues that impact their lives, produce audio documentaries for mainstream and progressive media focusing on critical social and economic justice issues that are seldom addressed, and develop the leadership skills of a corps of low-income women so that they may become leaders, spokeswomen and advocates on the issues that most impact them and their communities.

WCRC plans to utilize audio media, slide shows and discussion to engage participants in a dialogue about ways in which marginalized communities can utilize media and technology to take back the microphone. We want participants to walk away with some awareness that they need not depend on others in the media to represent their concerns. We believe that the people who have to live with poverty, sexism and racism on a daily basis are the experts on these issues and should be the voices at the forefront of any policy/social debate. Long-term change cannot occur until the voices of those who are most impacted by injustice are at the forefront of a debate.

Finally, in addition to the advocacy, we will share how participants worked with mentors and workshop facilitators to gain skills in research; developing interview strategies; conducting and recording interviews; editing and script writing; using professional software; hosting, narrating; up-linking audio to the web and pod casting.