Cory Minkah Montalvo
Founder of the Youth Empowerment Broadcasting Organization Denver, CO Award Year: 2020Cory Minkah Montalvo founded the Youth Empowerment Broadcasting Organization (YEBO) to leverage the power of media to transform the learning experiences of students. Through YEBO, students design and execute their own media enterprises that uplift stories from the margins, highlight inequities, and activate critical thinking in audiences. Cory’s work with students and families is informed by his passion for storytelling, social justice, and the media arts. Prior to founding YEBO, he was a dean of students and culture, a K-5 teacher and paraprofessional. He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to South Africa and currently serves as a founding board member for the Colorado Youth Congress, where he supports youth in their efforts to work across lines of difference in service of the public good and create systems-level change.
Cory is using his award to co-design a gaming lab with the youth of YEBO and to curate creative salons that will provide a space for BIPOC educators to engage in a process of healing by reconnecting with their creativity and one another.