True Dawgs Documentary

True Dawgs is an inspiring feature length documentary that chronicles the transformative journey of eight Garfield High School students who start as casual classmates and who go on to build an unshakeable community. Through the process of creating a documentary on gun violence that features grief, collaboration, and resilience, the students create a platform for powerful dialogue.

True Dawgs was one of the first projects to emerge from the early learnings of Fortifying Futures, which emphasize the importance of co-creation and centering youth voices as fundamental elements for producing impactful and effective solutions.

In the wake of gun violence at Garfield High School and media coverage that seemed to leave out youth voice, AHSHAY recognized an opportunity for students to reclaim their story. Initially, AHSHAY reached out to students at Garfield High to provide media training, equipping them with the tools to communicate effectively with the media and address their portrayals. In true Fortifying Futures fashion, we understood the necessity of listening to the youth and allowing them to lead in crafting a solution. After several meetings with students, it became clear that they wanted to reclaim the narrative about their school and community by producing a documentary.

Students led the way the entire time: they decided who they would interview, what questions they would ask, and how they wanted to show up throughout this project while AHSHAY developed ways to bring those ideas to life.

Moving forward, AHSHAY plans to refine the documentary to make it suitable for film festivals and will develop accompanying learning toolkits to enable the film to be used as an educational resource for schools, organizations, policymakers, and more.