The Road Up

Directed by: Greg Jacobs & Jon Siskel Released: 2023 (educational) Year of Production: 2020 Running Time: 93 min Language: English Subtitle Options: English Closed Captions, Spanish Subtitles Subjects: Class Disparities, Race Power and Privilege, Employment        The Road Up opens in a large conference room at Cara, a job-training program in Chicago’s South Loop. Cara provides services and opportunities for low-income adults who face barriers to employment, with the goal of placing them in jobs they’re expected to hold for at least a year. But first, every Cara student is required to attend a month-long “boot camp” called Transformations. And that’s where Mr. Jesse comes in.    Equal parts preacher, teacher, comedian, and coach, Jesse Teverbaugh developed and runs the Transformations class. Jesse treats every four-week session like a boxer entering the ring, exhausting himself in an effort to spark hope in the hearts of his students, a sense of possibility that most h