Isaac's Vision: A Brighter Future for Youth

My name is Isaac Cooley, a former college athlete, videographer, photographer, video editor, music producer, and aspiring content creator. I have spent nearly the past two years studying photo and video editing, cinematography, videography, photography, music theory, and music production to create content that will be meaningful, inspiring, and bring about social change. As an athlete, I KNOW that learning discipline, commitment, patience, and perseverance helped me to successfully weather tremendous obstacles and adversity in my own life. Now more than ever we see youth and adolescents committing acts of violence and being incarcerated at an alarming rate.

Compared to other cities with thriving youth sports programs, the city of Kalamazoo and the surrounding communities have a lack of quality content creators in the non-profit sector of youth sports. As a content creator, I am willing to invest my time to produce content that will allow the youth sports programs and organizations in Kalamazoo to raise awareness and create a larger public presence. This endeavor will in turn help with expansion, the ability to become more inclusive, and the capacity to recruit quality coaches and mentors willing to provide the guidance and leadership that are needed to help youth in becoming productive members of society. With your support, I will be able to produce content that will showcase and highlight youth programs that are successful alternatives to high-risk behaviors that promote values leading to success, not only in sports, but MOST importantly in life.

Currently, my employment doesn’t afford the leeway to cover the start-up costs associated with this type of creation. Also, I do not have my own camera, nor an up-to-date computer, sound equipment, or the ability to afford the software subscriptions and software purchases. All these items are necessary to produce quality and creative content that will inspire and lead to continued engagement inside and outside of the local Kalamazoo community. I am asking for your help to reach this goal so that the underserved youth in Kalamazoo, Michigan can have an opportunity to experience a future with hope and fulfillment. I am invested with the youth of this community. I would greatly appreciate your help in funding this effort.