Acuña works with Southerners On New Ground. Jenkins is the executive director of The Opportunity Agenda. Smith is a photographer and multimedia artist working with Question Bridge. And Appollon is the research director for the Applied Research Center's California office

From SONG'S website: " we believe that while the South is a physical geography of white supremacy and poverty and how they form plantations, mountaintop removal, and slave labor, it is also more than that. It is a place of redemption and hope for many: a place where folk reconcile with past in an honest and painful way; a place where people can stay in lands riddled with pain and remember old traditions; and birth new ways."

The Opportunity Agenda has commissioned three studies addressing media representations of black men, saying:

" Research shows that distorted media representations can impact perceptions and attitudes toward African-American males and affect many aspects of their lives, from receiving harsher sentencing by judges to having a lower likelihood than whites of being hired for a job and admitted to school. But distorted media depictions can also affect African-American males’ self-perceptions and lead to diminished self-esteem and lower performance in cognitive contexts, among other detrimental effects. In the end, black men are their own harshest critics."

Take a look at the project here.