Program Details

Since 2016, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has partnered with DePaul’s Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media to offer youth in public housing valuable skills in filmmaking, screenwriting, photography, and game & graphic design. Through the six-week summer intensives, high school-aged students are trained by our award-winning faculty, mentored by our graduate students, visited by industry guest speakers, and taken on a number of experiential field trips to get inspired by our city’s rich arts culture. At the core, the programs are designed to provide new economic pathways for minority youth and to arm them with the tools to become effective visual storytellers. This year’s programs will be taught in-person on DePaul’s Loop Campus from June 23rd through July 31st, 2025.

CDM is looking to hire several DePaul students to serve in various roles including a Graduate Assistant Program Administrator and Graduate Student Mentors with skills in one of the following areas: filmmaking, screenwriting, and photography. The pay is $18/hr.

Deadline to apply: Sunday, April 27th OR until positions have been filled.

Role of Student Mentors and Assistant Program Administrator

Each of the CHA youth tracks are designed to be a transformative experience for participants and DePaul student mentors. As a mentor, you’ll spend quality time with youth from across the city learning about their lived experiences while imparting knowledge you’ve acquired through DePaul classes and your own personal development.

The role of the student mentor includes: participating in youth orientation; attending training workshops; being present during all program hours (Mon-Thurs, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm); fostering leadership qualities through team-building and conflict resolution exercises; and building self-esteem and self-agency through the vehicle of socially conscious storytelling in a narrative film, screenwriting, or photography format.

The Student Assistant Program Administrator role will work closely with the program director in overseeing the success of all three programs. Overseeing planning and logistics, they will interact with youth from the three concentration areas and Chicago Housing Authority youth representatives. They’ll also be asked to attend some of their field trips and onsite production days.

Become a Filmmaker | Film Production

In this award-winning program, participants learn every step of filmmaking including story development, producing, camera operation, lighting, sound, casting, and editing. Youth will work in small groups supported by graduate film students to complete short film projects that will then be sent to festivals and competitions worldwide. During the program, youth will also be visited by industry experts and go on experiential field trips including a tour of Cinespace, the largest film studio outside of Hollywood.

Movie & TV Scripts | Screenwriting

The School of Cinematic Arts six-week screenwriting program provides CHA youth with the skills to write screenplays designed for television or digital streaming platforms. Through a series of lectures and discussions, participants are introduced to the formal art of screenwriting. The topics covered include screenplay format, visual writing style, scene craft, story structure, character development, and dialogue. Supported by accomplished filmmakers and graduate student mentors, CHA teens will each write an individual original short screenplay and then workshop a group screenplay written in teams of four or five. Throughout the program, participants will screen a variety of curated short films with social themes relevant to youth for story analysis and discussion.

Next Level Photography

Through two lenses—the lens of a camera and the lens of their life experiences—CHA participants gain technical photography skills and learn the power of their personal narratives. The program is designed to expose participants to photography as a career option in several genres including portraiture, commercial, fine art and journalism. This will include a variety of guest speakers and onsite photography workshops. Every assignment will utilize a new skill to develop cumulative knowledge of professional standards in imaging. Students will be challenged to think conceptually about their own visual development while acquiring technical skills. The program culminates with a final portfolio showcasing their artistry and original voice.

For additional questions email CHASummerProgram@depaul.edu

Faculty Bios

Michael X. Flores

Principle Investigator/Program Administrator

Michael worked as an assistant editor on Tamra Davis’s documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; on Lisa Leeman’s documentary One Lucky Elephant (2010), which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival; and on Bess Kargman’s documentary First Position (2011), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. He then edited Nick Broomfield’s documentary Sarah Palin: You Betcha! (2011), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival; Terri Hanauer’s narrative feature Sweet Talk (2012); Lisa and Laura Wilson’s documentary Last Will. & Testament(2012), which was executive produced by Roland Emmerich; and Kimberly Bautista’s documentary Justice for My Sister (2012), which won Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. He also worked on Tommy O'Haver's music video for Matthew Dear; on Eddie Alcazar’s documentary Tapia (2013), which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival; and on Neil Berkeley’s documentary Harmontown (2014), which premiered at South By Southwest.

Contact Michael

Liliane Calfee

Program Director

Founder of Soleil Media, Liliane Calfee has crafted storytelling campaigns via film and photography for over a decade. In 2015, she accepted a faculty position at DePaul. The CHA program in documentary filmmaking was designed based on her experience successfully employing digital media to raise awareness on important issues affecting underserved populations and her conviction that a gender approach to community development is essential to creating lasting change. This viewpoint was cultivated through years of working in regions as diverse as the immigrant rich projects of Paris, the crowded city of Dakar, Senegal, and small rural villages of Eastern Kenya.

Contact Liliane

James Choi

Filmmaking Program Faculty Mentor

James Choi is a prolific, award-winning filmmaker with over a decade of film industry experience in Los Angeles having worked in representation (Innovative Artists and The Firm), production (Sarkissian Productions, Rush Hour) and digital media (Ifilm.com/MTV Networks). As an independent producer, James has produced two feature films from first time directors that have premiered at South by Southwest. “Made in China” which won the Grand Jury Award for Best Film and distributed by IFC Films and “Saint Frances” which makes its world premiere at South by Southwest in 2019. James was selected as one of Newcity’s Film 50 – the leaders of Chicago’s film culture of 2018. Having been in the forefront of the micro independent film movement in the last decade, James has produced and directed numerous films that have screen widely all around the world, winning awards and receiving distribution. James has a deep passion for independent films and constantly working to break new ground in our digital age.

Contact James

Brian Mellen

Filmmaking Program Faculty Mentor

Brian Mellen completed his degree in broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana followed by a Master of Fine Arts in Digital Cinema at DePaul University. He has extensive experience teaching film courses within DePaul’s School of Cinematic Arts and Flashpoint Chicago. Outside of teaching, he runs his own videography and editing business serving clients in Chicago and nationally. This is the fifth year Brian will serve as a faculty mentor for our Become a Filmmaker program. Under his guidance, CHA youth short films have played and won at several film festivals including Apple’s “Anyone Can Create” Youth Showcase, Black Harvest Film Festival, No Malice Film Festival, and Cineyouth Film Festival.

Contact Brian

Patrick Wimp

Screenwriting Program Faculty Mentor

Patrick Wimp is a biracial, Black American screenwriter, director, and producer from Chicago. He recently completed the original comedic pilot Brothers from the Suburbs, for Warner Bros TV, and sold to HBOMax. His web series of the same name won the Jury and Audience awards at the Austin Film Festival, Best Web Original at UrbanWorld, and Best Director at SeriesFest. That series currently streams on Mansa and OTV. Pat’s 2017 crime-drama pilot Public Housing Unit was awarded Best Writer at SeriesFest and Best of Fest at HBO’s International TV Festival. Patrick’s produced films have screened in renowned film festivals like Chicago International, Cannes International, the Atlanta Film Festival, and many more. He has also worked as a DP for A-list music artists like Jennifer Hudson, Billie Eilish, and Chance the Rapper. Pat was listed as #7 on New City’s Chicago Film 50 in 2021, and named to Austin Film Festival's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2020.

Contact Patrick

CHA Summer Youth Program Graduate Student Mentor/Student Assistant Program Administrator Application

The Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Photography Programs are six week intensives designed for Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) youth participating in One Summer Chicago jobs. This year’s intensive will be held in-person from June 23rd to July 31st, 2025.

CDM is looking to hire a graduate Student Assistant Program Administrator and several Graduate Student Mentors with skills in one of the following areas: filmmaking, screenwriting, and photography.

Priority will be given to students currently enrolled in one of the following graduate CDM programs: MFA or MS Film and Television, MFA Documentary, MFA Screenwriting, and MA Digital Communication and Media Arts. However, undergraduate students with great enthusiasm for the program and position are welcome to apply.

Specific skills required for each of the positions can be found below.

Applicants must be available for all days and times of the program schedule.

Program Schedule

Applicant Must Be Available for All Program Days
Program hours are 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.

• Week 1: Mon, June 17 through Thurs, June 21 (Off Wed, June 19th)
• Week 2: Mon, June 24 through Thurs, June 28
• Week 3: Mon, July 1 through Wed, July 3 (Off Thurs, July 4th)
• Week 4: Mon, July 8 through Thurs, July 11
• Week 5: Mon, July 15 through Thurs, July 19
• Week 6: Mon, July 22 through Thurs, July 25

Required Skills

Student Assistant Program Administrator

This position requires strong organizational skills and production knowledge. The student assistant program administrator will work directly with the program director to support the three CHA programs in a variety of logistical capacities including updating rosters, submitting payroll information, setting up potential field trips, processing expenses, and potentially coordinating graduation day activities.

Filmmaking Graduate Student Mentor

We are hiring four student positions that have competencies in all areas of film production in order to support youth teams in creating original short films. Therefore, we are recruiting graduate students who are comfortable in all aspects of production: pre-production, production (camera, lights, sound), and post-production (editing software). Mentors will lead workshops and training exercises for sixteen Chicago-area, female-identifying youth participants. They will also guide youth through the production and editing phases of their short films.

Screenwriting Graduate Student Mentor

Student mentors should have a strong handle on the craft of screenwriting. They should be comfortable working within a group to provide guidance and ensure projects are completed on time.

Photography Mentors

Student mentors should have a strong command of DSLR cameras including how to manually control ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. They should also have working knowledge in Lightroom and/or Photoshop.

Compensation

Student mentors and assistants will be paid $18.00 per hour and must be available all dates/times of the program.

For additional questions email CHASummerProgram@depaul.edu.

Deadline to apply: Sunday, April 27th OR until positions have been filled.