Disruptive social justice film company Never Whisper Justice, which produced Black Boys is teaming with Old Spice, and Stride, Inc. to provide a free digital learning course to more than 200,000 students, 400 school districts, and 7,000 teachers nationwide.
This follows this week’s screening of the award winning docu at Brand Storytelling 2022 an event of the Sundance Film Festival. The film is also an integral part of Old Spice’s 10-year commitment to help increase high school graduation rates by +10% in underserved communities.
Directed by Sonia Lowman and produced by Jon-Thomas Royston, Black Boys became an official selection at this year’s Brand Storytelling 2022. It was chosen as one of the 15 films by the executive selection committee from over 160 submissions. The documentary celebrates the full spectrum and humanity of Black men and boys in America, while showcasing the effects of racism. The film also invites audiences to imagine a world in which Black boys experience true belonging and unlimited possibilities.
Along with the partnership, NWJ extended Frontlines of Justice (FoJ), an eLearning platform aimed to improve the learning outcome of tens of thousands of underrepresented students nationwide through personal and professional socio-emotional development. NWJ aims to provide the FoJ’s Black Boys Digital Learning Course to more than 200K students, 400+ school districts and 7000+ teachers for free by partnering with Stride Inc.
Supported by Old Spice’s School of Swagger initiative designed to increase youth mentor sign-ups, this partnership showcases how Old Spice’s investment in purpose-driven storytelling, community engagement and actionable initiatives has charted a new path for accelerating impactful-measurable change in the lives of young people nationwide.
Since the fall of 2020, Old Spice has been committed to a 10-year initiative to improve high school graduation rates for underserved students by ten percent.
“Awareness without concrete social impact is just advertising. Campaigns often fall short when they focus solely on raising awareness. We are filmmakers whose storyboard begins with impact first. When problems are systemic, our approach must create sustainable interventions,” said Jon-Thomas Royston, co-founder of NWJ.
“We’re excited that Brand Storytelling 2022 selected Black Boys as a feature film,” said Matt Krehbiel, Old Spice brand vice president at Procter & Gamble. “It’s great to continue our efforts to help young people succeed in high school and beyond by promoting the racial, educational, and social justice learnings to more students in schools nationwide.”
Black Boys is now streaming on Peacock.
