From juvenile offenders to first responders, Berkeley filmmaker's new documentary goes inside an innovative local program

"It has now been a dozen years since Chakarova met retired Alameda County Fire Department firefighter and founder of the Bay Area Youth EMT Program, Wellington Jackson. The organization, co-founded by Jackson in 2002, provides training, free of charge, by Black firefighters for 18- to 24-year-olds who have been involved in the juvenile justice system, providing them with the skills to become first responders as either emergency medical technicians (EMTs) or join a fire department as paramedic firefighters."

"Now, Wellington and alumni of the program are part of Chakarova's new documentary In The Red: Changing Lives to Save Lives. The doc, premiering at Grand Lake Theatre on Monday, Sept. 22, follows the trajectory of six youths of color, Joseph Stubbs, Dexter Harris, Justin Mayo, Julio Leon, Samantha Soto and Eric Lanier, who went through the fire academy training at Bay EMT."

"I remember coming out of the theater and feeling upset and needing to decompress and grab a drink, Chakarova said. That's when Randall West, the same firefighter I met a year before walked into the same place I was. Randall said: You want to do a documentary of unrecognized heroes? You've got to talk to Wellington. You've got to do a documentary about the kids who are in his program.'"

The Bay Area Youth EMT Program, co-founded by Wellington Jackson in 2002, provides free emergency-response training led by Black firefighters for 18- to 24-year-olds involved in the juvenile justice system. The program equips participants with practical skills to become emergency medical technicians or to enter fire departments as paramedic firefighters. Wellington and program alumni appear in the documentary In The Red: Changing Lives to Save Lives, which follows six youths of color—Joseph Stubbs, Dexter Harris, Justin Mayo, Julio Leon, Samantha Soto and Eric Lanier—through fire academy training at Bay EMT. The film premieres at Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland on Monday, Sept. 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org