Community Television Network

Community TV Network (CTVN), a leader in community access to media, empowers low-income young adults and children in Chicago to identify, address and resolve issues through the use and understanding of media arts. CTVN gives youth the awareness, motivation, and tools to create a positive future for themselves and their neighborhoods Governed by this mission, CTVN has been utilizing video-as-an-education-tool to improve the quality of life, education, and opportunities available to low-income African American and Latino youth in Chicago since its founding in 1974 by Executive Director Denise Zaccardi as a special project of the Alternative Schools Network. In 1980, CTVN incorporated as an independent, tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization.

Community TV Network is a pioneer in the use of video as an arts and education medium. CTVN programs for at-risk, minority youth have generated a decisive, historical movement in the development and acceptance of video as an art form and as an educational tool. Over nearly three decades, CTVN has developed a curriculum that empowers urban youth with a voice allowing for self-representation while building self-esteem, community awareness, and intellectual growth.nbsp; Our primary educational tool, video, is taught through hands-on, inter-disciplinary, student- and problem-centered programming.This accessible medium best captures the attention of our focus age group in the era of mass media. As applied by CTVN media-literacy curriculum, video continually proves to be a successful, alternative method of enhancing academic learning, developing essential skills that are prerequisite to success in other subjects.