Firsthand

“You can understand another person’s perspective when you see their neighborhood and what it’s like to live there,” says Tonika Lewis Johnson, the founder of the Folded Map Project, who is organizing tours in partnership with the city and popular historian Shermann "Dilla" Thomas.

Thousands of restrictive laws govern people who have been released from prison in the United States, making it difficult for them to find housing, employment, and to restart life after they have done their time, as WTTW's FIRSTHAND: Life After Prison explores. The producer of the documentaries spoke about the project. 

WTTW’s new digital series, FIRSTHAND: Living in Poverty, follows five people experiencing intergenerational poverty. As part of the FIRSTHAND Talks series, five experts offer their take on issues related to poverty. Here are some takeaways.

"I've never covered a more important story in my career," says the producer of the new Frontline: Coronavirus Pandemic. But how are journalists and broadcasters working now, when most people are confined at home? Frontline, WTTW News, and WTTW's FIRSTHAND discuss.

Go behind the scenes of the upcoming digital series FIRSTHAND: Living in Poverty, which follows five people experiencing intergenerational poverty to better understand the daily challenges that make their circumstances difficult to escape.

"I really believe in the power of storytelling," says the director and producer of WTTW's new digital series FIRSTHAND: Gun Violence, which tells the stories of five people whose lives have been upended by gun violence. 

FIRSTHAND: Gun Violence, a new WTTW digital series, follows the stories of the real people behind the statistics of gun violence in Chicago who are living with the repercussions and the psychological trauma it leaves behind.