Letter Highway 4 Peace
Highway 4 Peace
Teri Shaw has lent her time, energy and resources for more than 15 years in her Antioch, California community. All of her efforts have been for the care, mentoring and betterment of young people. She started as a mom, after-school transporter and daycare provider. She has evolved into a leader, school board member, anti-violence advocate and most recently television producer. Ms. Shaw has become a creative force by bringing her message via a television show, “Highway 4 Peace” (H4P) to hundreds of thousands of local homes on Comcast Cable.
H4P is a joint effort between Shaw and local teens. It is about youth, for youth and by youth. It uses the most desired, utilized and innovative tool – media – to get teens involved in the process of healing their own lives and those of their peers. The interactive effort allows them to use their own vision, talents, hard work and creative minds to get the message out about what’s really going on with them. Going a step further than the popular social media craze, H4P is a multicultural mix of teens expressing what they feel.
They explore current issues that affect them and they discuss life, love, school, family and other issues. H4P gets them in a place that most people just dream about – on TV. Typically, the most common way to get these same faces on television is on local news, where the stories are more often than not, tragic circumstances. H4P showcases not only the best and the brightest. It is an open invitation for the willing. Teens are offered a chance to show off their talent and use their voices that have until now been unheard.
H4P is an entertainment-based, socially conscious, multimedia (television, Internet) platform to improve lives, give direction and boost the self esteem of the local under-served teenager. The show’s crew is teens who have already shown an interest in media careers. They are able to utilize and enhance their skills. They work with adult professionals who mentor, guide and teach real world production and life skills, simultaneously. On-camera interaction with adult community leaders gives the youth a chance to express their own opinions on a level playing field. This strengthens their confidence and shows them that they are valuable and important members of society. It enables them to see more clearly how their positive input can affect positive change.
As crime rates rise alarmingly and violent deaths of young people soar out of control, H4P offers a road map to a civil and fun solution. The use of television, music, dance, theater, poetry, rap, writing, etc. can be an alternative, a positive expression to idle minds and negative, destructive behavior. Creative solutions have been used to help redirect lives of young warlords as far away as West Africa. It can work just as well in East Contra Costa County.
Darlene Brooks
Media Relations Director
Hwy 4 Peace Teen TV Talk Show
Comcast Channel 24
