ABOUT THE CENTER FOR MEDIA & SOCIAL IMPACT
The Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), based at American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C., is an innovation lab and research center that creates, studies, and showcases media for social impact. Focusing on independent, documentary, entertainment, and public media, CMSI bridges boundaries between scholars, producers, and communication practitioners who work across media production, media impact, public policy, and audience engagement. The Center produces resources for the field and research, convenes conferences and events, and works collaboratively to understand and design media that matter.
ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE 53206 IMPACT REPORT
This report provides the background, details and impact highlights about the strategic public engagement and social impact campaign for MILWAUKEE 53206, an hour-long documentary focused on the intersection of race and mass incarceration in the United States. The impact campaign was shaped and directed by Odyssey Impact, a nonprofit documentary production organization, which also funded the production of the film. The Center for Media & Social Impact provided formative research to help shape the issue campaign and developed the field screening survey facilitated by the Odyssey Impact team at grassroots screening events for the film. This report was prepared and written by a team at the Center for Media & Social Impact. For CMSI, director Caty Borum Chattoo served as principal investigator. The report was written by Caty Borum Chattoo; Varsha Ramani, CMSI communications and program manager; and Danage Norwood, former American University School of Communication Strategic Communications program graduate student. AU School of Communication graduate student Sarah Huckins provided support with citations and formatting. Funded by a grant from Odyssey Impact, this report is part of a larger collaborative project between Odyssey and CMSI that examines the role of multidenominational faith communities in grassroots social justice interventions centered around the use of documentary film.
