The My Hero Project

The My Hero Project is a U.S. based nonprofit organization established in 1995 by philanthropist Karen Pritzker, Jeanne Meyers and Rita Stern Milch that identifies positive role models from around the world for the online digital storytelling project. By 2013, it reached 194 countries.

Its primary focus is education, and it also conducts an international film festival that call attention to real-life heroes. Its partners include iEARN.org, The Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Tech-Ed, The National Educational Computing Conference, and the The American Film Institute.

The My Hero Project was co-founded by philanthropist Karen Pritzker, the daughter of Robert Pritzker of the Pritzker family, television producer, Jeanne Meyers, and Rita Stern Milch in 1995. The purpose of the effort is to offset the lack of positive role models in the media and "celebrate the best of humanity and empowers young people to realize their own potential to effect positive change in the world".

In 2009, the My Hero Project website received 429,713,027 hits from 5,688,348 visitors in 194 countries. Traffic to the MY HERO website currently averages over 700,000 visits per month, accessing over 2 million pages of content.

The Teacher’s Room provides tools for educators. Through guided activities, participants develop strong video, media production and digital storytelling skills. MY HERO curricula advance communication skills and critical thinking. Participants can also choose to join the International Education and Resource Network (iEARN), a network of connected classrooms that enables prompted collaboration between classes. The Teacher’s Room has over 51,645 participants annually.

The My Hero Project regularly offers educational media workshops in the U.S. and other countries. A Cultural Arts Exchange Grant from the U.S. State Department funded the Global Exchange Project, in which MY HERO media arts educators traveled to the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Senegal and Jordan to conduct media and video workshops. Through these workshops and the digital media library, My Hero Project uses artistic expression to bridge religious, political and language barriers and promotes greater cultural awareness.

My Hero rented space in the Herb Alpert Educational Village at New Roads School in Santa Monica, California beginning in 2013. They will have access to a 340-seat, state-of-the-art theatre a few times a years and use of a community room for meetings. Other nonprofits are located in the village, with the Capshaw-Spielberg Center for Arts and Educational Justice, named for Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg. It is meant to be a place that fosters synergistic interaction between the nonprofits and the students at the New Roads School. For My Hero, the attraction is a partnership with students who are interested in documentary storytelling internships and projects.

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