The Independent Lens Bridge Builders Collective consists of five episodes focusing on people making meaningful change in their community. Stream them below!
Through Bridge Builders, we, too, can be inspired to support the work happening around justice reform in our communities and find ways to be the bridges of change that we want to see in the world.
WCTE PBS is inspired to respond to the needs of our community by holding a month-long food and resource drive. We are partnering with Hippie Jack (Jack Stoddart), and his 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, C.O.A.R.M. (Council of Americana Roots Music), to provide much needed humanitarian aid to the rural former mining communities around Overton County. Their mission is to "promote, present, and preserve Americana roots music, while serving the under-served people of Appalachia with fairness, dignity, and compassion."
From May 22-June 22, WCTE is collecting non-perishable foods and toiletry items. Bring donations to our office (229 E. Broad St. Cookeville, 38501).
At the conclusion of our drive, we will be holding a celebration and conversation event at Big Tony's Pizza. June 20, 5:30-7pm, we will watch the film that inspired this project, and we invite all to join us for pizza and discussion with Jack Stoddart and the C.O.A.R.M. team.
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Community Aid Network: Bridge Builders | Independent Lens | PBS
Community Aid Network is a Minneapolis-based mutual aid collective formed to address the immediate needs of underserved communities suffering from COVID-19 and systemic racism.
Across the United States, community leaders of different ages, backgrounds and geographies are fighting for criminal justice reform. Their work has tangible impacts on the lives of those around them and together they look to a future where no one is left behind.
Independent Lens Bridge Builders is a series of short documentaries highlighting these changemakers and their communities, collectively crafting a picture of the reform landscape nationwide.
These organizations, and the people who drive them, are beacons of hope across a landscape of turmoil.
Jennifer Carreon: Bridge Builders | Independent Lens | PBS
Jennifer Carreon, a Chicana from the Laredo, Texas border and Director of the Criminal Justice Project with Texas Appleseed, works to reshape the Texas Criminal Legal system.
Trina Reynolds Tyler: Bridge Builders | Independent Lens | PBS
Trina Reynolds Tyler is a journalist and a data analyst who leads Beneath the Surface, an investigation into gender-based violence buried in police complaints in Chicago.
Haki Sekou: Bridge Builders | Independent Lens | PBS
Haki Sekou is one of two Community Health Workers at the Formerly Incarcerated Transitions (FIT) Clinic in New Orleans. He empowers recently released individuals who are facing the same roadblocks that he encountered through education, understanding, and care.
Ny Nourn: Bridge Builders | Independent Lens | PBS
Ny Nourn is the Co-Director of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (APSC), a Bay Area coalition that provides direct support to incarcerated Asian American and Pacific Islanders.
About Indie Lens
INDEPENDENT LENS is America’s home for independent documentary film. Each week the award-winning series delivers engaging documentaries crafted by the industry’s boldest filmmakers. Independent Lens films have won 25 Emmy Awards, 23 Peabody Awards, eight duPont-Columbia University Awards, and have received 10 Academy Award nominations. Independent Lens received the International Documentary Association (IDA) Award for Best Continuing Series in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2022.
