Chuck Minsky Joins Allforone Youth And Mentoring Board
Hollywood Cinematographer Joins At-Risk Youth Intervention Program
Cinematographer Chuck Minsky, whose work includes Pretty Woman, Valentine’s Day, Princess Diaries II, You, Me, and Dupree and many more movies, has joined the Board of Directors of AllforOne Youth and Mentoring, an intervention program for at-risk youth in Santa Barbara.
AllforOne Executive Director Matt Sanchez, who has known Mr. Minsky for 15 years, explains, “Chuck has done a great deal of giving back to his community via work in the Santa Barbara Film Festival as a judge and mentor and with student filmmakers. He has also volunteered time at Santa Barbara High School in the MAD Academy (Multimedia Arts and Design) and has lectured about cinematography at USC and Brooks Institute.”
AllforOne’s program goals are to provide youth:
• An alternative social structure to gangs
• A new sense of identity as part of the solution
• A supportive environment through mentoring
• Positive activities that promote educational and social growth
• A way that they can become models of positive change within our community
The highlight of the AllforOne program is the annual “Hoods in the Woods” trip where the youth are taken on a snowboarding trip to Mammoth Mountain, during which they work with volunteer mentors to learn life skills, emergency first aid, and drug and alcohol abuse education. Young people from the different neighborhoods of Santa Barbara’s Eastside, Westside, Goleta, and Carpinteria learn to see each other in a new light while having fun together.
AllforOne board president, Larry Crandell says, “Kids go to school instead of jail….the most effective program with which I have been involved.”
Mr. Minsky has lived in Santa Barbara for 17 years and has three children, Nina, Henry, and Anna, who grew up here. He was graduated from UCLA and, before starting his film career, was a social worker for Aid to Families with Dependent Children. He says, “I have a desire to engage youth and to show our at-risk young men new ideas to expand their imaginations and show them alternatives to violence.”
Other AllforOne board members are Parks and Recreation Director Nancy Rapp, Howard Hudson, CPA, Richard Munoz, Bill Duvall, and Maggie Cote with honorary Chairman Jonathan Winters.
