Fred Ssewamala, Social Entrepreneur Dr. Ssewamala is an Associate Professor of Social Work and International Affairs at Columbia University School of Social Work; a Global Thought Fellow with Columbia University; and a Senior Research Fellow with New America Foundation. Dr. Ssewamala has several years of practice in the International Social Development field. His practice experience includes serving at the Red Cross (Uganda), where he acted in several programmatic positions related to designing projects and programs for poverty alleviation and community development, and at Justine Petersen Housing and Reinvestment Corporation a 501(c) (3) Missouri (USA) not-for-profit corporation that assists low-to-moderate income individuals and families become homeowners, access financial institutions, start their own micro-businesses, and accumulate assets. His current research on Africa is funded by a consortium of organizations, including the National Institute of Mental Health and New America Foundation. This research focuses on asset-ownership development and creating life options through economic empowerment models for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in sub-Saharan Africa. Professor Ssewamala is also currently researching the acceptability and feasibility of economic empowerment interventions in poor African immigrant communities in the urban U.S.
 
Jen Gilomen, Director Jen Gilomen is Lead Developer of Strategic Initiatives at the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), working in collaboration with national broadcasting entities to develop innovative initiatives for public media production, distribution, and education. In this role, she is responsible for BAVC’s own social enterprise activities and strategic partnerships, including the development of a Next Generation Internet coalition, a public gaming channel, and a new national “crowd-sourced” public media archive. For two years, Jen managed BAVC’s Digital Storytelling Institute as producer and advisor, helping over twenty California-based nonprofits to increase their technical capacity and harness media for social change. Her background is in documentary film, web development, graphic design, media instruction, and strategic communications. She has acted as an advisor for nearly one hundred independent producers and nonprofit organizations, managed youth and adult media programs, developed interactive web sites for companies, nonprofits, and independent filmmakers, and produced nationally and internationally distributed films.
Jen’s current documentary, Ghosts of Appalachia (Co-Director and Cinematographer; 56:40; HD for broadcast), is a story about two life-long friends who find themselves on opposite sides of the nation’s energy debate as a coal company invades their small Eastern Kentucky town. With approximately one-third of production complete, the film was selected for the 2008 IFP Marketplace Spotlight on Documentaries, has received four grants, is a finalist for ITVS LINCS funding in partnership with Kentucky Educational Television (KET), and is a semifinalist for the IFP Fledgling Fund Award for Social Documentary. Jen has been working on the ground with national and regional partners, including Al Gore’s The Climate Project and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to ensure the film’s nationwide impact upon release in 2009. Jen’s previous projects include cinematography for the feature documentary Delta Rising (Director of Photography, 2008; 75 min), which stars Morgan Freeman and famous blues musicians, and In My Shoes: Stories of Youth with LGBT Parents (2005; 31:40 documentary), which won the Audience Award for Best Short at the Frameline Film Festival before screening in classrooms and community centers in nearly every U.S. state and in over twenty countries. It is distributed by Frameline and aired nationally on LinkTV in 2008.
 
Rachel Benson, Producer, R( )wn productions Rachel Benson, founder of R( )wn Productions, continues to find and communicate stories of struggle, perseverance and the possibility of change through the independent documentary and narrative film and video work she produces. Her background in communications and advertising for non-profits and foundations continues to invigorate and enhance the storytelling she is doing today. Her most recent narrative feature, Opal (an IFP No Borders selection that screened at Cannes in 2007) will be completed this Fall and her documentary and video work with musicians, artists and non-profits around the country, that has screened for large audiences and in theaters nationally, has brought her in contact with a wide and loyal network of philanthropists, socially conscious investors, foundations and industry professionals who continue to support and enliven her current and future projects.