Dream Job: Corporate Heart

May 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Kristinha M. Anding

Adobe Youth Voices volunteer Tapani Opala helps students at the San Jose, Calif.–based Burnett Academy edit their photographs into slideshows using Adobe Photoshop Elements software.

Miguel Salinas says he has always admired Adobe. So four years ago, when the former journalist and nonprofit/corporate communications professional was presented with the opportunity to work within Adobe's newly formed corporate social responsibility department, he leapt at the chance.

“The focus and philosophy Adobe has as it relates to its community giving is very much in line with how I feel corporate giving should be done: It's very genuine, it's very strategic, and it's very collaborative. The company doesn't just write checks and walk away,” says Salinas, who is now senior program manager for the department and heads up the Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) initiative.

Launched in June 2006, AYV provides media literacy training programs, software allocations, and grants to educators from schools and nonprofits serving disadvantaged teens. In its first year, the program started working with 37 in-school and after-school sites in India, Seattle, New York, and the Bay Area — and created a global educational network in the process. In its second year, AYV expanded to 75 sites in four countries and refined its training model, offering educators a comprehensive week-long summer workshop that covered everything from choosing media formats to considering one's audience when creating a media piece.

“[The workshop] is localized, it's customized, and it's where the educators are so they don't have to travel anywhere,” Salinas says. “It's bringing them together where they live, and the reason for that is to create these communities of practice within each of our geographies so that the teachers can learn and share with each other.”

In 2007, AYV also launched its grants program, which awards funding and software donations to nonprofit organizations already working within the field of youth media.

Adobe showcases youth projects created through AYV sites and its grant program at the company's website, as well as at film festivals, educational conferences, local libraries, and museums. The company also entered into a partnership with MTV, launching a hub on think.mtv.com that highlights AYV-created media.

Salinas says it has been heartening to see the program successfully reaching underserved youth. “When you ask a young person what they care about and give them the tools to communicate about that, it's a really powerful thing,” he says. “I think this program is really tapping into that opportunity and potential.”

For more information, visit www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/philanthropy/youthvoices.