Jo Streit

Jo received her BA from Texas A & M and her Masters from North Texas University. Her initial career was in journalism, but due to a serendipitous event, she was thrust into producing and directing her first feature film, Flirting with Power, which followed Ross Perot's run for the Presidency. Having full access to the candidate, she created a documentary that San Francisco Magazine called "an even-handed look at the politics of the day." The film was screened at several film festivals across the US. In 2000, Jo was a featured speaker at the Reform Party Convention in Long Beach, CA where clips of her Perot film were screened. (Watch the full video and access the clips reel.)

Fast forward to 2022, and one of Jo’s final requests was to donate the extensive archival footage and transcripts from this groundbreaking documentary to the University of North Texas Libraries. She wanted to share the valuable lessons learned from this third-party effort with students, historians, political scientists, et al., particularly now as our political landscape has become so fraught.

Jo was a fierce advocate for vulnerable youth and violence prevention, starting with a 1997 groundbreaking, 21-site statewide video conference event, Resources for Youth, for the California Wellness Foundation. Jo then co-produced over 50 short productions highlighting "unsung heroes" working for peace and policy reform. This work culminated in her last major project for the Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC) on a subject that was near and dear to her heart, foster youth and foster families. In May of 2022, her film Jetro's Journey premiered at the CPOC conference in Sacramento to 500 attendees, including youth, judges, probation officers and advocates. Although not able to attend in person due to her illness, Jo was able to participate on the panel via Zoom. She worked tirelessly when she took on a project. Her goals were that through her work she could create pathways for understanding the plight of the forgotten in our society and to foster social justice in our institutions. The creativity, intelligence, hard work and loving care she brought to her projects created a shining light of understanding

Created by Streit Productions and i.e. communications for the California Department of Social Services and Casey Family Program, Wraparound - How It Works embodies the same spirit of caring. An educational video for social workers and probation officers, the video shows youth and families how Wraparound works to reunite and keep families together. After viewing, youth and their families can make an informed decision about participating in Wraparound - a nationwide intervention process that works to keep families together and youth out of juvenile halls and foster care.

Another signature project resulted from her work with Peralta Community College, which commissioned her to produce two films. The first was on sex workers in the Bay Area. The second, Merritt College, Home of the Black Panthers, featured exclusive interviews with founding party members and rare archival footage to explore the roots and influences of the Black Panther Party. This production won a national Gold Medallion Award for community college film and was shown at the UN. Everyone marveled at Jo’s ability to engender trust with the many Panthers she interviewed. As she liked to say, she was never into "gotcha" journalism—her style was more cinema verité. Watch the full video >

One of her more personal projects, award-winning Love at Second Sight, filmed at Mill Valley Middle School, is the heart-warming and emotional story of how Marlena Blavin came to fall in love with David Roche, a man with a noticeable facial difference. It teaches students to not prejudge someone different from them by challenging and changing perceptions about appearance and acceptance.

Watch full video at www.loveatsecondsight.org >