Partners
Alameda County Public Health is supporting the project with in-kind donations and has included Apple of Discord Productions and The Trust as a partner on their site with links to the company and project site. They have provided the project with relevant research and historical trends on incarceration to help create a framework for the story.
The film has received enthusiastic in-kind support from the DOC Film Institute of San Francisco State whose board is comprised of such notable documentarians as Les Blank, Ken Burns, Ricky Leacock, Errol Morris, D.A. Pennebaker, and Martin Scorsese. The Doc Film Institute's Director, Stephen Ujlaki, will be directly involved in fund development for The Trust.
The National Trust Program (also known as The Trust) is a re-socialization program in which life-term inmates mentor, train and prepare short-term inmates to become positive citizens. Founded by Dr. Garry Mendez, Jr. more than 20 years ago in New York, the goal of The Trust is to transform the incarcerated from social liabilities into assets for themselves, their families and their communities. This is achieved through a curriculum aimed at purging destructive value systems and instilling new pro-social values while cultivating self-awareness and personal responsibility.
PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works®.
PolicyLink work is guided by the belief that those closest to the nation's challenges are central to the search for solutions. With local and national partners, PolicyLink is spotlighting promising practices, supporting advocacy campaigns, and helping to bridge the traditional divide between local communities and policymaking at the local, regional, state, and national levels.
The Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action (CILSA) is both an organization and a catalyst to integrate social justice into the curricular and co-curricular experience of Saint Mary's College. Founded in 1999, CILSA is the academic center at Saint Mary's College for promoting a culture of service and social justice education consonant with Catholic social teaching and integrating the three traditions of the college: Catholic, Lasallian, and Liberal Arts. The goal of CILSA is to support students, faculty, staff, campus units, and community partners to work together to promote intellectual inquiry and student leadership and development through action in academic, co-curricular, and community settings to foster personal and social responsibility for the common good.
The Trust film is fiscally sponsored by San Francisco Film Society, a non-profit leader in the media arts field serving independent filmmakers for over 30 years. The celebration of the transformative power of the moving image is at the very heart of everything the Film Society does.
Many award-winning documentaries have emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area. In recognition of this fine tradition, The San Francisco Foundation (TSFF) created the Bay Area Documentary Fund (BADF), a project of the Fund For Artists collaborative. BADF supports documentary projects by experienced filmmakers with an esteemed body of previously created work and falls in line with TSFF's goal to explore issues that have been historically underexposed, misinterpreted, or ignored and that are pertinent to the five Bay Area counties.
A unique aspect of The Trust is the use of an inmate-led internal film crew, which includes Troy Williams, Marvin Andrews, Buckshot Maples and Kenny Stallings, all trained in filmmaking by Cinematographer Jesse Dana. The San Quentin Media Project team will capture footage of life behind bars and conduct interviews with fellow prisoners. The footage they capture will be used to supplement internal filming. This will provide authenticity to the film by allowing the subjects to feel more at ease in front of peers who they normally associate with.
The Urban Strategies Council (the Council) is a community building support and advocacy organization located in Oakland, California. Founded as a non-profit organization in 1987, the Council's mission is to eliminate persistent poverty by working with partners to transform low-income neighborhoods into vibrant, healthy communities. The Council currently operates five programs to achieve its mission, including: 1) economic opportunity; 2) community safety and justice; 3) education excellence; 4) information and technology; and 5) community capacity building. The Council applies its core skills — research and data analysis; convening, facilitation and strategic planning; mobilizing resources; capacity building; and advocacy — to achieve its mission.
