Category: Community

Reclaiming connection to public lands: A youth nature photography competition supported by Yeti and US Forest Service

Posted on by CESAR in Community, Creativity, Environment, Photos, Youth
Chicago teens in Manistee National Forest
Teen capturing photo of Chicago teens enjoying public lands at Manistee National Forest

At a time when the government continues to divest in our national forests, green economies, and youth programming, change is urgently needed. At Creative Capitol, we were motivated to create a space where young people of color, who are often excluded from environmental decision-making, can connect with public lands, contribute to their care, and imagine themselves as part of a future rooted in sustainability and justice.

Turning an Idea into Action

We envisioned a youth-centered environmental camping trip—a chance for Chicago teens to step away from city life, challenge stereotypes about who “belongs” outdoors, and connect deeply with the natural world.

The idea began taking shape during a casual dinner conversation with Bill Neff, the Head of Marketing at YETI. After hearing our vision, Neff immediately offered his support. From there, key partners came on board:

  • U.S. Forest Service — guided stewardship activities and provided wilderness expertise
  • Bus for Outdoor Access & Training (BOAT) — ensured safe transportation & smooth camping experience
  • Faith in Place’s Eco-Ambassadors — brought together the youth participants (ages 14–18)
  • Jaylyn Gough, professional wilderness photographer and founder of Native Women’s Wilderness — led creative photography workshops
Photo a Chicago teen took in the Manistee Forest during the YETI photoshoot workshop.
Youth holding YETI water bottles during nature photography workshop

A 4-Day Immersive Experience in Manistee National Forest

In the summer of 2025, the camping trip itself opened a space for genuine connections. As youth coming from a busy urban life, like the one most have in Chicago, there’s hardly time to decompress and reconnect with the Earth around us. For these youth, who felt that the city life can sometimes force one to mature at a young age, this trip offered an opportunity to engage with nature in ways they hadn’t been able to experience before. One of our youth stating that “It was the first time in a long time I felt like I could just be a kid again”, after finishing the camping experience. 

Photography as a Tool for Belonging

Bus for Outdoor Access and Training in front of Eden Place Farms in Chicago

Each youth received YETI water bottles, backpacks, and Olympic TS6 digital cameras from Urban Connections, giving them the tools to explore and document the forest through their own lens. Under Jaylyn Gough’s guidance, they learned the basics of nature photography, composition, and visual storytelling, turning the forest into both a classroom and a creative studio.

To make it exciting, we framed it as a YETI Photography Competition: capture the YETI in a way that best reflects the theme of belonging outdoors.

The Winning Shot

Over the course of the trip, the youth produced stunning images, some from perspectives and angles we hadn’t even considered. Creative Capitol organized a powerhouse selection committee consisting of representatives from YETI, U.S Forest Service, and Native Women’s Wilderness. We then invited Calid Bowen, Creative Director at Golin, to cast the winning vote and break the tie. After much deliberation, we’re proud to announce the winning photo, perfectly embodying the spirit of the trip.

Winning photo from YETI competition hosted by Creative Capitol in collaboration with many others .
Winning photo from YETI youth photography competition

As part of the prize, the winning photographers will receive a personalized YETI care package filled with outdoor gear and merchandise.

Beyond the Trip

We intend for this camping trip, or rather outdoor media campaign, will produce lasting outcomes such as increased social cohesion among participants, greater cross-community understanding of public lands, and strengthened networks of youth leadership. Beyond the trip, youth will stay connected through follow-up gatherings, digital storytelling platforms, and environmental advocacy campaigns, multiplying the project’s impact. We even partnered with youth illustrator, Joshua Pleasure, to recreate a digital rendition of the photo, adding graphic design components to the project.

Your Turn: Submit a Yeti Photo

We invite you to join the movement! Submit your own photo and share what belonging in nature looks like to you. Whether it’s in a forest preserve, a city park, or your own backyard, these moments help us redefine the outdoors as a space where everyone belongs. Together, we can challenge stereotypes, expand narratives, and celebrate the simple joy of finding ourselves, YETI and all, out in nature.

submit a photo

If you’re interested in hosting your own creative workshop, Creative Capitol is here to help. It can be for the youth or the Chicago community at large. Partner with us today and get started on an initiative with long lasting affects.


Behind the Scenes: Marketing the Midwest’s Premier Environmental Film Festival

Posted on by CESAR in Community, Environment, Film
Speaker at One Earth Film Festival

Chicago is a hub for the arts. It attracts both aspiring and established creatives. It is a place where one can find genuine community-building at any corner. Creative Capitol loves Chicago because this city strengthens the relationship between the people and our environment. This is achieved through several environmental events and organizations. One organization that captures this motivation is the One Earth Collective. 

One Earth Collective’s annual event, One Earth Film Festival, is the Midwest’s premiere environmental film festival. It brings communities together across the city and world. The One Earth Film Festival hosts about 25 film screenings across various locations (breweries, houses of worship, museums, etc.) in Chicago over the span of one week. They feature award-winning films like: Common Ground, Bad River, The Sacrifice Zone, and many more. An initiative as vital as this no doubt needs an efficient and motivated creative team behind the scenes.

A 360° Marketing Strategy for Impact

Participants at One Earth Film Festival watching film

Creative Capitol planned and executed a full 360° campaign that included securing a major Google Ads Grant to run performance-driven ad campaigns, launching email and social media campaigns, and producing innovative promo videos and content for festival screenings. 

The creative team worked effortlessly to secure a $120,000 ‘Google Ads for Nonprofits’ grant, and then launched a data-driven Google Search campaign. These ads generated over 34,000 impressions and 3,000 clicks, directly driving engagement and event attendance. The results spoke for themselves—a 50% increase in average attendance across 25 events in just one week. This showcased that strategic marketing has the ability to mobilize communities around environmental storytelling.

Creative Capitol made sure to show up and show out beyond online marketing. The creative team captured b-roll film & photography of each event, designed and printed festival t-shirts, and hosted t.v style interviews with attendees and audiences.

Building Capacity for the Future

Presentation at One Earth Film Festival

The milestones are outstanding as Creative Capitol delivered a fully integrated marketing campaign, including social media, email, print and digital design, media partnerships, and live event coverage—all from one coordinated team. Moreover Creative Capitol built long-term marketing capacity for the One Earth team—streamlining workflows, upgrading outreach infrastructure, and setting the stage for future growth well beyond the campaign window. One of the tools Creative Capitol implemented during the campaign was Later.com, a platform that offers free subscriptions to non-profits to manage all social media platforms on one account, making social media outreach a much easier process. 

Influencer Marketing Platform | Later

More Than Marketing—A Movement

This campaign wasn’t just about filling seats—it was about strengthening a cultural force in the Midwest’s environmental movement. Through compelling storytelling and intentional outreach, we helped position the One Earth Film Festival as more than a series of events and film screenings—it’s a catalyst for change.

The collaboration between One Earth and Creative Capitol affirmed the power of strategic storytelling to drive environmental action. As a mission-aligned agency deeply embedded in climate justice work, Creative Capitol is proud to amplify a festival that brings urgent conversations to the screen—and to the community.

If your organization has a mission worth amplifying, let’s tell your story in a way that inspires action.

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Biking for Equity and racial justice in chicago

Posted on by CESAR in Community, Photos, Uncategorized, Videos

Chicago’s history is deeply intertwined with systemic racial injustice; yet, its future doesn’t have to be.  One organization born from the Chicago community that has garnered the motivation to fight these inequalities is Equiticity. Equiticity operationalizes racial justice by harnessing mobility and community programs to foster wellness, safety, and justice in neighborhoods across Chicago, like the North Lawndale area.

Equiticity is on a clear mission to invest in the North Lawndale community through bike-centered racial justice initiative. The story had enough depth and emotion to power a major grant application. This would then be used to further their goals of combating racial injustice. 

Chicago community gathered in meditation before Equitcity bike ride
Cyclists gathered for racial justice ride in Chicago
Youth participated in Equiticity Bike ride
Youth participating in Equiticity bike ride

Creative Capitol’s Role in the Movement

As a minority-owned media and marketing agency rooted in social impact, Creative Capitol sought to amplify Equiticity’s mission. We developed a multimedia storytelling tool kit with a comprehensive campaign. This included community-centered short films, a redesigned website, and a powerful fundraising pitch video featuring the executive team. The visual storytelling brought together Equiticity’s values of mobility, visibility, and collective care.

Equiticity new website design

The filmmaking team produced a short film series. It followed Equiticity’s neighborhood rides and public events. The films captured how movement and visibility foster healing and solidarity in historically marginalized communities. Our team of website designers redesigned Equiticity’s website to attract more traffic. They positioned it as a dynamic hub for storytelling, community updates, and donor engagement. This translated local impact into a digital experience aligned with its values. Our videographers produced a powerful fundraising pitch video featuring Equiticity’s leadership team. The video anchored their grant proposal by blending vision with voice. It communicated their mission in a way that emotionally connected to stakeholders.


Impact Through Storytelling

Each piece served a different role. Together they advanced a unified mission. The goal was to document real-time community change. This would inspire funders, mobilize audiences, and scale impact. The storytelling toolkit helped Equiticity secure a $1 million grant. This funding allowed them to expand operations and deepen community impact. It demonstrated the power of mobility rituals for marginalized communities like the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago.

Equiticity leadership team in fundraising pitch video

For Creative Capitol’s founder, this project was deeply personal. Movement—whether physical, social, or cultural—has always been a driving force for growth and connection. Equiticity embodies that philosophy at scale, and our role was to guarantee their story traveled as far as their mission.

If your organization is ready to amplify its mission, we encourage you to mobilize your community. Inspire change by taking initiative. Creative Capitol would love to get in touch.

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Growing Faith and Fresh Food: Englewood’s Community Garden

Posted on by CESAR in Community, Environment, Videos
Late SamElla McKenzie headshot

In Englewood, Chicago, community care runs deep. Reverend Gwen wanted to maintain and strengthen her late mother’s, Sam Ella Mackenzie, initiatives with All Things Through Christ Outreach Ministry (ATTCOM). She aimed to achieve this through the tried-and-true manner she knew well. This is faith-based community work made to leave a long-lasting impact. 

SamElla Mackenzie started a food pantry initiative through the Church. The initiative aimed to serve mothers all throughout the greater Englewood community. They provided a bag of groceries to mothers every Saturday morning. Reverend Gwen has valiantly continued this mission. She brings together volunteers from the community each week. Their efforts help feed local families every Saturday morning.

Site for SamElla Hope Center in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood, coming soon.

The Food Pantry will remain and persist for years to come, and Reverend Gwen couldn’t help but think of new ways to continue supporting her community. In a neighborhood where fresh food access is limited, she dreamed of a place that would nourish the body, uplift the spirit, and beautify the community. With support from The Nature Conservancy Illinois Chapter (TNC), ATTCOM and TNC this vision came to life in the form a vibrant community garden, in hopes of not only providing a beautiful scenery for community members to admire, but access to fresh and organic food for them to gain nourishment from. 

Drone shot Chicago's Englewood neighborhood

Creative Capitol, deeply committed to environmental justice and sustainability storytelling in Chicago, was honored to document the project. Our team captured both the day-to-day work of the food pantry and the excitement of the community garden’s launch through high-quality photography and video production.


While one can witness for themselves the top-quality video produced from the project, more than that, genuine relationships were formed with community members. From the camera crew connecting with the community, the media assistant bonding with Reverend Gwen, to even our project manager doing a push-up contest with one of the community members and volunteer for the garden, everyone on-site was genuinely invested in the work that was being done, far beyond a surface level. So much so, at the end of Creative Capitol’s time on-site, the team, TNC, and ATTCOM broke bread together over lunch and embraced what it really means to build community.

Looking forward

A major goal for the All things through Christ Outreach Ministry is to break ground on the SamElla Hope Center, which will provide a safe space for young women to find resources, shelter, and community. Creative Capitol will continue supporting ATTCOM through their foundation of the Center in any way we can. So, stay posted for an announcement on its grand opening day!

Sneak peek at SamElla Hope Center

Watch the full video to see how faith, food, and fresh ideas are transforming Englewood.

Creative Capitol is here to support our community; in every way we can. Have a community event in need of multimedia coverage? We want to be there, get in touch today as we build a stronger community everyday.

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Centering Juvenile Voices in Academic Research at Northwestern University

Posted on by CESAR in Audio, Community, Learning

For confidentiality purposes the names of professors and subjects involved in the process have been altered.  

Presently, over 25 thousand youth are in juvenile detention centers across the country. This fact in mind, how is it possible that all these youth are being educated to the state standard? That exact question is what one professor from Northwestern University sought to figure out.

Academic Research as a tool for change

At Northwestern University, in the School of Education & Social Policy, Professor Smith was conducting an academic research project into how the youth were learning in Juvenile Centers. What kind of resources did they have? Was the instruction up to standards? These were the kinds of questions she needed to answer. Professor Smith found the best way to go about understanding the conditions was to speak directly to the youth. So, Professor Smith conducted interviews and gathered conversations with consenting participants to discover an understanding of their experiences. 

Smith wanted to show this research at a large-scale conference to be heard by many academics and change makers. However, Smith decided that she didn’t want to speak on behalf of the youth subjects, as these were their stories to tell. For the mission, it was vital to center these youth’s voices at the conference. But finding an avenue to do that was a challenge. 

The team to amplify the Youth’s voices

Dr. Smith knew of some current students at Northwestern who were passionate about audio engineering, hip-hop, and Djing. These students happened to work in the same research lab on campus. Taking the leap, Professor Smith asked these students for their help and insight. The creative team started by going through each interview that featured youth. They organized their conversations by themes and took these audio files to produce an audio production. This audio production featured each theme, music, and most importantly the youth’s voices. At the conference, this audio production created a platform for storytelling. It centered on juvenile voices that were the heart of Professor Smith’s academic research.  

Foundation to Creative Capitol 

This project showcases Creative Capitol before it was Creative Capitol, a few college students empowered by the desire to uplift their community. These efforts were really the catalyst for the Founder of Creative Capitol to realize that this work could be turned into a larger movement. Our audio production that changed the way juvenile voices were listened to showed us that this is our lane, amplifying the unheard voices of our community. Even more than that, we realized that we can achieve this goal not just through audio engineering, but all forms of media production.

Creative Capitol makes everyone’s voice and mission alike heard, no matter the form of media. Interested in amplifying your organization’s mission in a creative way? Reach out today to get started.

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