Last April, 20 youth media leaders convened in the foothills of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains to participate in the Youth Media Leadership Institute (YMLI), part of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture‘s Youth Media Initiative. For five days, they discussed their work and strategized. “I felt connected to my peers and more ready than ever to help move forward toward our collective goals,” wrote YMLI delegate Cynthia Carrion, outreach coordinator of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, in an article for the MediaRights website.
Carrion interviewed other youth media leaders about what they took from their week in Oregon, ways they’ve collaborated with other youth media organizations since then, where they hope to see the field be in five years, and what the challenges will be getting there. “I felt as if I walked into YMLI as an indivdual and left feeling part of the youth media community,” said Andrea Isabel Quijada, director of educational programs at the New Mexico Media Literacy Project.