Board Search
GB Youth Media (GBYM) ((501(c)3 nonprofit organization)
Call for Nominations to Board of Trustees
900 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, 20910
Instagram: @gbyouthmedia
Board Chair: Deirdre O'Connor
Executive Director: Anna MacLachlan
GB Youth Media is a growing nonprofit youth development organization founded in 2005, with headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. We opened and occupied our first permanent headquarters Fall 2019 that allows us to expand our program offerings and geographic reach. To accomplish those goals we have recently adopted a Five-Year Strategic Plan, and we are proud to announce that we are looking for new Board Members to join the community leadership of our organization. Our expanded and inclusive Board of Directors will serve three-year terms and represent the diverse communities where we live, work, and offer free after-school and summer courses.
Our Vision for the World: “We envision young people shaping communities where everyone values and respects one another, and where everyone has opportunities
to express themselves using media arts.”
Our Mission: To create communities where young people build the confidence and media skills to express themselves and to promote community building, multi-cultural understanding, and the common good.
Priorities For Our Board Search: We are seeking leaders to help us build relationships with and for families who need the most support - to help us improve the quality and depth of our programs, increase the number of programs, and provide the wrap-around support that middle and high school students need to thrive. Our priority is for the new Board Members to be community leaders, have some experience in media or youth development, or be qualified to represent the underserved families and communities in this region. If there are other ways that a community member can contribute to the leadership of GB Youth Media, we’d love to talk. We are especially focused on at least one new Board Member with financial or accounting experience to serve as the Board Treasurer responsible to review our budget and audit prepared by the Executive Director with help from outside professionals.
How To Nominate a Board Candidate: We encourage any community member or local professional, student, parent, teacher, or program alumni to nominate a candidate, or to self-nominate by emailing the Nominating Committee at nominations@youthmediamd.org with Board Nomination in the subject line. Please include the full name of the nominee, brief information about why the nominee would be a good candidate to help lead GBYM, and, if permitted by the nominee, contact details for the nominee and the person nominating. GBYM will respond with questions or next steps such as scheduling an in-person conversation or inviting nominees to attend a GBYM event.
Who We Are and Our Values: Our free after-school and summer programs teach young people how to research and report on social justice and civic issues through film and other media. These young students find their voices and confidence to develop as leaders, while learning valuable digital media skills by producing short documentaries, PSAs and short narrative pieces that are published on our YouTube Channel, which we invite you to visit: www.youtube.com/youthmedaiwithafocus. During life before COVID, our teaching artists travelled to numerous neighborhood libraries across Montgomery County every week, in addition to teaching at our Silver Spring headquarters and studio space. During the limitations imposed through the pandemic, we are proud that our organization has continued to operate virtually with our full complement of staff and teachers.
As an organization, we prioritize racial and economic equity in all of the choices we make to deliver quality programming focused on social justice issues. Our goal is to work in the community, alongside community leaders, as a community-led organization. By involving our communities in our leadership, and focusing on the quantity and quality of our programming, we will continue to increase our positive impact both internally and externally.
Board Activities: Our Board is a friendly and involved group of community members interested in social justice and youth development. The Board actively supports the success of our Executive Director and the Program Manager. In addition to the monthly Board meetings, each Board Member serves on a committee and hosts or participates in various organizational events to move our Strategic Plan forward. Our board members provide valuable perspectives, expertise, and experience to help the organization best welcome and serve youth in under-represented families.
Our New Home: Through Expanding Our Voices, our capital campaign, we met our initial goal of $550,000 to expand the scope of our media productions and double the impact of our free education programs. GB Youth Media raised enough funds to build our own headquarters and studio space, creating a permanent hub for our network of satellite classroom spaces across the county. Our new headquarters occupies 3000 square feet in the Silver Spring Library building at 900 Wayne Ave, on a generous long-term lease from Montgomery County.
History of GB Youth Media: Local activist Richard Jaeggi founded the organization in 2005 with the belief that teaching young people media skills would give them a voice, develop the next generation of leaders, and shape social consciousness in the process. Based in libraries, schools, and charitable institutions around the county, the neighborhood classes Richard started have flourished, enabling hundreds of youth to develop as students and as leaders. Evan Glass became Executive Director when Richard passed very suddenly in 2014, serving until late 2018 when he was elected to the Montgomery County Council. Evan and the Board of Directors expanded the programs and obtained the long-term lease to give GBYM a permanent home. Anna Danielson has been serving as Executive Director since November 2018.
Our Founder's Name for Our Organization
Gandhi Brigade was named by its founder, Richard Jaeggi, out of his admiration for Gandhi's commitment to active non-violence. Richard took Gandhi's writings regarding the creation of a "Peace Brigade of believers" to heart, combining this idea with the development of 21st century skills in order to effectively spread this message. Richard chose the name Gandhi Brigade because (to paraphrase Richard): Gandhi’s well-known commitment to nonviolence was not at all passive; it was designed as active refusal through peaceful means to thwart any kind of injustice. To be sure, at Gandhi Brigade we teach our young people to think about justice in the world and express in their actions through their creative media all the values that Gandhi most hoped for: inclusion, courage, and love.
We now go by GB Youth Media (GBYM) and will be launching a new official name and branding in 2022.
Questions or Comments
Any member of the community who has questions or comments regarding this announcement is invited to email us at nominations@gandhibrigade.org. You can nominate yourself or someone else.