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Underserved and underrepresented young people need inspiration, empowerment and a sense of opportunity.
And Ben Gilbarg has shown that he knows how to provide it.
For nearly three decades, the New Bedford native has been devoted to using the tools of media, music and culture to guide and shape the lives of tens of thousands of young people, helping them to become creative, contributing members of society by realizing and cultivating their skills and interests. His campaigns have continually enhanced and transformed the lives of those on the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum.
Since 2016, Gilbarg has been the executive director of STEAM the Streets, an organization he co-founded with Angel Diaz, also of New Bedford.
STEAM the Streets introduces young people to burgeoning industries and professions. Using a variety of in-person and online programming, STEAM the Streets works with educators and organizations throughout America to help young people envision their futures and enter the workforce in industries such as offshore wind, renewable energy, marine science, transportation and environmental justice.
Based in New Bedford and Richmond, California, STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — includes a staff of nine, with an advisory board of nine.
Gilbarg is also the founder of Big Picture Anthems, a social impact media initiative that develops high-engagement campaigns using music, storytelling, and multimedia content to inspire action and awareness.
Among their accomplishments is the “Black Made That” campaign, a multimedia project celebrating Black inventors and innovators that has generated more than 1.6 million views.
Gilbarg’s first youth empowerment project began when he co-founded 3rd EyE Unlimited in 1998, a New Bedford-based nonprofit that used hip-hop culture, media arts, mentoring and youth leadership to engage underserved communities. For 12 years, he directed the annual 3rd EyE Open Hip-Hop Cultural Festival, a large-scale community arts and culture event that attracted more than 50,000 attendees.
Through 3rd EyE, Gilbarg also helped create and produce “Put Out The Word,” a youth-driven television program for social awareness that aired nationally on the Dish Network, reaching more than 21 million households. The show gave local youth hands-on experience in media production, journalism, interviewing and communication.
For the past eight years, the 48-year-old Gilbarg has lived in Hercules, California, with his wife, Missy. They have three children and a grandson. A graduate of New Bedford High School, Gilbarg boasts degrees in communications from UMass Amherst and a master’s degree from Boston University. He is the son of two college professors, Marlene Pollock and the late Dan Gilbarg.
New Bedford Light: Why is it important to reach young people?
Ben Gilbarg: In our case we find it really important because, for one, it’s really important to raise career awareness and career options. We have a really unique way of reaching young people, which was kind of formed during my 3rd EyE days.
Both Angel and I, in starting STEAM the Streets, we’ve had a lot of strengths and passions, so we’re talking about video production, media production and music production. Experiences such as community organizing and development, experience as educators and in marketing, we put all of these things in a big pot and stirred it to address the problem of young people not really knowing what they can be.
There’s a national survey we cite, done in 2019, of more than 2,000 teens, about what they want to do as an adult. Fifty percent listed the same 10 jobs, and 25% didn’t list anything. This is an issue because we know there’s 1,700 things you can do.
A lot of times people pick a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a teacher, an accountant or an engineer. Career awareness and career development, the ability to see yourself in these fields, I feel that K-through-12 needs a lot of help in that and that’s where we initially came in — helping young people see themselves in these careers.
We can do that by creating videos with content of people in these professions, particularly BIPOC people. We can create music and music videos like “Black Made That” and the “Green Careers Anthem,” that get that information across.
We’re using our distinct means and the way we create our curriculum that teachers can use in the classroom. It’s important to reach students in very relevant, responsive ways that they can relate to and it doesn’t seem like just another thing at school.
NBL: Why is it important for underrepresented young people in particular to have their voices heard?
BG: A rising tide lifts all boats, and that’s what happens when what many call “opportunity youth” have their voices heard. Everyone wins. Most importantly, the youth can [express] their hopes, challenges and desires, and feel healed. It’s even better when adults encourage and lift up those voices, as the youth see they have people looking out for them and that’s crucial, especially for youth who might come from tough times or untraditional family structure.
As people trying to better the world — educators, entrepreneurs, political leaders, artists, journalists and more — listening to those youth voices is essential. Their perspective can’t be studied from afar. You need to hear where they’re coming from and you’ll learn so much.
Example: During our “This Can Be You” live experience, DJ Anghelli runs around and asks students in the crowd “What do you want to do, what’s your dream?” Some don’t know, and that’s fine, that’s what we’re there for. The students that do answer get greeted by applause from DJ Anghelli and their peers and instantly feel a sense of validation and confidence.
It’s a simple answer that can start a whole life journey. We as a society need these young folks to prosper for the benefit of all.
NBL: What was the inspiration for STEAM the Streets and why has it been successful?
BG: Starting with the inspiration, there’s a couple of pieces to that. One, while I was in L.A. doing my master’s, I had an internship with this company called Two Bit Circus. They had this event called the STEAM Carnival, and this was when I first heard the concept of STEAM, instead of STEM.
At the STEAM Carnival they would build these interactive games … They’d build these games and invite L.A. students out to this event and have them play these games and have them code and do all these STEAM activities. It was kind of mind blowing.
I came home from that program and I was listening to NPR and the news about the staggering diversity gap in STEM fields. And at the same time there was this staggering gap in employment, they were saying there are all these unfilled jobs in tech fields and computing. That didn’t make sense to me.
I thought, “How do we have this big employment gap when all these folks of color who need work and aren’t getting activated into these spaces?” Basically, I was like, let’s use some of our methods to solve these problems or at least chip away at these problems. And that led to STEAM the Streets.
The idea became to get STEAM everywhere, let’s get STEAM in the Streets where the youth need it most. They might not be getting enough and enough involvement in STEAM.
I think it’s been successful because it’s been needed, in terms of inspiring and educating and making our youth aware of what their capabilities are and what their options are in a very unique way. I think that’s missing in a culturally responsive and relevant and engaging manner. I think that’s something that’s really needed.
Also, in the ways we partner with a lot of other institutions. We’ve been lucky to partner with entities that really see the value of what we do and also, some of these entities need to engage people more. They need to engage an upcoming workforce — people in communities.
And obviously there’s not enough of that engagement out there. They see the value of what we do and we’ve been able to diversify our funding, so it’s not just grants, it’s also contracts and partnerships with other bodies. They’ve seen the value and they know that we have to think entrepreneurially in order to keep this thing alive.
NBL: What are the fruits of STEAM the Streets in its first decade?
BG: Our accomplishments in the first few years were having in-person programming in New Bedford. We had a long-term partnership with Carney Academy for over three years.
Over that span we helped improve MCAS scores for their students. We doubled the number of fifth grade students who scored proficient on the science portion of that from 30% to 60%. And then in our partnership with Keith Middle School, from 2018 to 2020, they had a significant jump of almost 60% on their state assessment numbers. That seems really unbelievable but it’s true.
To sum up those first three years, in terms of our in-person programming, we really helped students to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to see new options for themselves — a future.
They met role models from different STEAM industries who came into the classroom and spoke. Getting information in a dynamic way — multimedia and hip-hop. Our videos and afterschool programs got them really engaged and involved. They realized that they could be something in their future.
Another big accomplishment was the music video and anthem we produced called “Black Made This,” a project about Black inventors that was done between 2017 and 2018. It was produced with 300-plus students from Richmond, California, and New Bedford. It generated more than 1.5 million views and 33,000 shares.
Educators across the country are using it to engage students around Black history and STEAM all over the country, though we hear from people all over the world. That’s our most far-reaching and most popular project.
We independently produced a mobile app, with the help of some of our foundation founders. We now have 11 career modules.
In 2023, we started a partnership with the organization now known as Britebound, previously known as American Student Assistance. Britebound put our modules on their platform called “Evolve Me,” which has really taken off throughout the country. We’re proud of that relationship.
We also just produced a series of 1,700 videos, believe it or not, for Britebound to promote their new website called “GoZig,” a career awareness platform. These are a few of the accomplishments.
NBL: What are the virtues of music and culture when trying to inspire young people?
BG: Music and culture are things that young people are already into. For instance, when we do our “This Can Be You” school assembly performance, we use a lot of cultural pieces that really make those connections.
For food culture, we’ll show a picture of tacos on the screen and say, “Who likes tacos?!” and all the kids cheer. Then we say, “We didn’t show you this to make you hungry, but did you know you could be a food scientist?” And we tell them that there’s eight different kinds of food scientists. That gets them thinking about something they never heard of before.
We try to cite video games and movies and artists that they like, culture that they’re already connected to. We leverage what they like and what they’re familiar with to educate them in something they’re not familiar with.
Music keeps them really engaged. Other than the “Black Made That” video, we have one called “Nada,” which is Spanish for “nothing.” The idea is that you’ll have “nothing” without Latino inventors. So we show one of these videos during our assemblies and the kids are super engaged — it’s good music with a beat, the lyrics are good and it’s connecting with them. It’s a really powerful way to connect. These are methods that have worked.
NBL: How did your world view develop and evolve?
BG: A couple of major points. One, I grew up with two parents who were both community activists and community college professors that were very progressive in their viewpoints. They definitely instilled the foundation of progressiveness, tolerance, and acceptance. Really valuing diversity and trying to expose the truth. They showed me what movements were when I was a kid.
Then going away to college and having really dynamic professors in communications that built on that by showing me how our society is built, how media communicates to people, and how culture is a big part of communication. That was really eye-opening for me in my formative college years.
Before founding 3rd EyE in 1998, I was into hip-hop culture, listening to hip-hop artists like KRS-One, and Outkast, and the Roots, and Common. I was exposed to a different world view through them. Those kind of influences helped form 3rd EyE. I learned from youth and went forward.
NBL: What have you learned about organizing and getting the best out of people?
BG: Again, learning from my parents as community organizers and co-founders of the Coalition for Social Justice. They were especially good at coordinating and recruiting volunteers. That was a big piece.
Early years with 3rd EyE, not having a lot of resources, building an attractive movement where a lot of people wanted to get involved. Kind of learning on the fly.
How to get the most out of people is by having them at the table, making sure their voice is heard, that they have input and they feel appreciated, they feel like they’re part of something.
NBL: What are the personal rewards from what you do and why is it important to help others?
BG: The personal rewards are hearing a lot from educators and young people about how being involved in STEAM the Streets has changed their life. We’re now working on a video with one of the students from our first program at Carney Academy almost 10 years ago. A young man named Luis Colon.
He got involved with an afterschool program at Carney Academy that was working with students that helped them write songs to inspire and educate their peers about STEAM careers. He got involved and wrote a verse about math careers and he was in the music video and he performed in front of more than 300 of his peers. He really gained a lot of confidence and helped him find who he was. He later became the No. 1 saxophonist in the New Bedford High School marching band. Now he’s an electrician’s apprentice and working his way up in that field.
Seeing his growth and other students like that makes it all worth it. And then we get a lot of anecdotes from our mobile apps and our programs — students sharing how our content makes them learn about things in a different way and see that there’s a lot more options for them. It makes them want to be one of those things.
We once heard a student say, “I saw a video of a man doing software engineering and it made me want to do that. I could see myself in that career.” It’s a dream for us to hear that.
I’ve always been kind of a compassionate person. I think again, that stems from my parents, my upbringing. Also having a career in service, in a way.
I don’t want to see young people left behind. I want to see them prosper. I want to create a path for them to prosper. We try to fight for young people to get ahead in this world. There’s a lot of opportunities out there and the trick is how to find them.
We try to lay out the roadmaps on how to find them. We do that through our mobile app, our curriculum and our programs. It’s important for us to have young people get ahead.
NBL: What impact do you think you’ve had on New Bedford and its youth?
BG: With New Bedford youth there’s a couple of things I’d like to point out. With 3rd EyE over the years, it offered this leadership development aspect where, in the 2000s, there weren’t that many things for teens to do if you weren’t into sports after school.
So they’d see the festival or “Put Out The Word” TV show, or an event, and it was something they’d want to get involved with. So we’d say, “Hey, come to a meeting. We’ve got a meeting Monday night.” They’d come and all of a sudden they’d be at the table. They were helping to put on an event at the festival, or editing a TV show, or making music for one of our projects.
It was really about helping them develop leadership skills — becoming leaders without even knowing it. They were just doing fun stuff. They were doing things that were important to them and their community. So that led to those young people ultimately growing up and becoming leaders in their own right, whether that is founding organizations, founding companies, being productive citizens, working jobs and holding down jobs in the community.
I hear from a lot of my mentees that I’m in touch with from 3rd EyE over the years, a huge percentage of them are doing really wonderful things. So that 3rd EyE movement really impacted those youth that were involved in a really micro level. They were intrinsically involved in the organization and now they’re doing all sorts of good things.
Another facet, because of the 3rd EyE Open and other events throughout the years, it was a really positive thing. For artists and athletes there was a high standard to perform. We didn’t let just anyone on the stage at those events. There were auditions. And they were inspired by those who performed in the years before them.
It really helped raise the bar for artistry and athleticism in the city where a lot of artists came out of that movement. For instance, there was the “New B at the Z” event. All of those artists were performers at the 3rd EyE Open and other events that I held over those years.
There’s a sense of “You can do it.” There’s a spirit that the 3rd EyE movement brought — entrepreneurialism and artistry. You can go out and do things and not wait for anybody. Having a platform or outlet for artists really transformed the city. I don’t think it’s an accident that there’s so many 30-somethings or 40-somethings who are doing their thing now. A lot of people have told me I’ve been a big part of that influence.
NBL: Why did you relocate to the Bay Area of northern California?
BG: My dad was actually from the Bay Area, he grew up in Palo Alto, and we used to visit my grandparents. That was kind of my first attachment to it. I eventually did my master’s degree at Boston University, but they had a bi-coastal program, so part of that degree was done in Los Angeles. I got to spend about six months in L.A. and I was kind of excited about maybe moving there. That didn’t work out.
In 2017, about a year after founding STEAM the Streets, I went out to L.A. and the Bay Area to get sponsors for it and got a really good reaction, especially from the Bay Area. I actually got a contract out of that trip, and so after a year of going back and forth making video content and meeting with people, there was a really good reception.
So I saw it as a bigger ocean to pursue STEAM the Streets. New Bedford was a smaller body of water. The Bay Area was overall more progressive and diverse, and I really like the natural environment.
I had to convince my wife to move out there. Our middle child was about to go to high school, so if we didn’t do it then it might not happen. I wanted to expose the family to new things. We ended up doing it, and we’re still here.
Sean McCarthy is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to The New Bedford Light.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
