Pay or Stay Campaign
Video Editing
Summer 2024
InternshipArchCity Defenders
Pay or Stay: The Fight to Abolish St. Louis’ Debtors’ Prisons
ArchCity Defenders is a nonprofit law firm that provides legal representation and social services to underrepresented communities in St. Louis. Ten years since the death of Mike Bown’s death, the project examines how policing has changed and reflects on the stories of clients.
As a Communications Intern, I assited in the production and edited two of the nine documentary videos.
Debtors’ Prison – 1) A prison for someone unable to pay their debt.
2) A relic of the Dickensian past. 3) A method by which St. Louis County's many municipalities extract money from poor and Black people.
St. Louis County, separate from St. Louis City, has over 88 municipalities each with their own traffic codes, courts, and police. Unregulated and targeted policing disproportionately affects Black and poor people, enabling them into a cycle of state-sponsored poverty. The cycle of ticket fines, missed bills, and warrants affects those most at risk. Those who cannot afford to pay court fines are arrested into debtors’ prisons.
Umi Okoli’ Story
Nicole Bolden’s Story
From camera set-up, to collecting b-roll footage, and editing, I assisted in the beginning and final stages of production. The two videos amassed 4.8K views total.
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
Analyzing the municipal courts after a decade of reforms, ACD published its research in its 3rd municipal court white paper. I created data visualizations to analyze the correlation between the revenue of 9 municipal courts and the number of court tickets and warrants issued. While the overall number of tickets and warrants decreased after the Ferguson uprising in 2014, there is a positive correlation between the number of tickets issued and the court’s revenue.
To keep it short:
The more tickets issued, the more profit. But who profits?
See the full project
Freedom Summer
Design & Photopgrahy
Summer 2024
InternshipArchCity Defenders
ACD and partner orgs hosted Freedom Summer, a community fair to celebrate Juneteenth and encourage civic action, offering voter registration and free legal counseling. I assited in designing the visual identity for the event, creating banners and flyers.
Opportunity
The recurring fair had a series of dates and locations around the Greater St. Louis area. How can I design a unifying visual identity that allows each event to be distinguishable?
Challenge
While the fair’s main focus is to provide legal and social services, the purpose is to also bring community together. Social advocacy should be accessible. The fair is family friendly with free food, games, and performances for children and adults. While legal services can feel initimidating, the design
goal was to make the event feel warm and inviting.
goal was to make the event feel warm and inviting.
The sun icon and type forms the Freedom Summer logo while the vibrant color scheme signals a welcoming and energetic event.
Solution
With a variable logo, each event has its own color scheme for all promotional materials and signage. However, the type treatment allows all the events to still feel cohesive.
The Juneteenth Kickoff, the first fair, is the “face” of the series. It has a cool blue and contrasting bold red.
The following event has warm pink, orange hues like the sunrise.
The last event has cool purples and green hues like dusk.
In addition to designing, I also photographed the event.