The youth media field needs a shift in thinking when it comes to funding, partnerships, and skill development. Rather than scramble for shrinking dollars and failing partnerships, we need to build partnerships that generate more dollars and have a bigger effect on both young people and our field.
Few youth media organizations have tapped into advertising and marketing firms as a way to leverage our collective expertise in the field. We know that the youth market is worth about $175 billion a year. But we forget that we work intimately with this market and can serve as mediators for young people to take the lead in mass marketing, learning business skills along the way.
About True Star
As a growing youth media organization that provides a creative outlet in the form of literary and professional development programs, the True Star Foundation has learned how to create partnerships that open doors to funding opportunities, increase visibility for youth media, and improves opportunities for young people to learn about the business of media.
The True Star Foundation’s core programming model is True Star Magazine, a teen- produced publication that began in the fall of 2004 as a four-page newsletter with one journalism program and 17 students. Currently, the magazine offers eight programs with 150 stipend paid student apprentices and seven adult instructors, who, collectively, create a 44-page quarterly publication.
Sales and marketing is an important component to our program that helps youth journalists develop business and leadership skills. The concept of having to market one’s media encourages students to think broadly of how a non-profit functions and how to get their work distributed, advertised, and widely disseminated.
At True Star (TS) we position ourselves as the experts on the youth market, stressing to marketers that we can reach youth in a way that no other media property can. We are marketers’ consultants as to how to reach youth with programs that are inviting, honoring, respectful, and culturally relevant and that connect with the urban youth market emotionally and intellectually.
Marketing: A Shift in Thinking
We acknowledge that fundraising and selling are two very different skills for youth media non-profits. Many organizations do not have the skill set or competency; however, we believe a huge piece of solidifying the youth media sector will come from the ability to integrate marketers into the field in a socially responsible way. Organizations might think about hiring someone with a media business background or add someone with that competency on their board.
Of course, marketers’ main goal is to increase sales and tap into the $175 billion youth market. However, if they can also be socially responsible and create goodwill, then your organization becomes a “sweetheart” buy for a marketer.
Typically, TS helps marketers reach their goals through focus groups, email blast, advertising pages, youth contests and our students acting as brand ambassadors. We become consultants to our partners, using our expertise to advise them on their marketing strategies. By building other youth media partners into the fold, we make the package of expertise even more attractive. United, youth media can guide marketers to create goodwill for themselves and their associates.
Case Study: Chicago Public Schools
While meeting with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office for Extended Learning, it was brought to our attention that the enrollment numbers for a federally funded tutoring program were significantly low. The main goal of this office was to increase its enrollment numbers for this tutoring program. After hearing this, we could have stayed the course with the TS agenda, i.e., getting this department to give us funding/resources for our after school programs. However, we shifted gears and asked them to discuss the enrollment issues more.
After a thorough understanding of their issues, we suggested that TS could increase the enrollment for the tutoring program by doing the following:
• teen-to-teen marketing using the TS street team
• creative services, including “teen friendly” marketing materials
• marketing via advertising pages in TS magazine
• executing a focus group with teens to assess how to effectively market the tutoring program
• booking a nationally recognized celebrity to endorse the program.
As a result, TS received a contract to provide the aforementioned services. With our expertise and ability to reach the market, student participation in the tutoring program increased by 85%. Creating value creates a buzz, and many other departments in CPS began to look to us to provide various services based on our success.
Case Study: Walgreens
True Star Foundation has partnered with Walgreens for the last two years on its HIV/AIDS initiative. Again, prior to meeting with Walgreen’s public relations agency, TS had an idea of what a partnership would look like. After hearing that Walgreen’s passion point with the urban community was HIV/AIDS, TS pitched an “Expression Against HIV/AIDS Art & Literacy Contest.” This contest asked youth to put an artistic spin on how they would combat HIV/AIDS in the urban community.
TS would conduct all marketing, implementation and execution for this program with Walgreens—the sole sponsor. This contest has been very successful and Walgreens is looking to grow the partnership into other areas.
When meeting with marketers such as Walgreens it is very important to understand their passion point for the youth market. Passion points can vary. For example, banking partners value financial literacy; consumer goods companies value nutrition; and telecommunications value entrepreneurship. However, marketers often shift platforms they are interested in supporting as rapid as every quarter of each year. In order to package youth media, we must combine our collective skills and expertise.
Methods and Models for Approaching Potential Partnerships
The following are suggestions from TS that might encourage the field to develop relationships with advertising and marketing platforms.
Contribute to your client. In our personal lives we would call this friendship; in the professional world we call it “relationship building,” and the same rules apply.
• Learn about the organization’s politics, culture, and passion points
• Listen to the partner’s needs and goals with interest and concern
• Volunteer for some of their initiatives
• Use your media outlet to cover things that are important to the partner
• Does your organization have a newsletter to send? Are you hosting an event? Use every opportunity with potential partners to communicate what you do and who you serve
Example: Once we realized that Walgreen’s passion was HIV/AIDS, TS became a member of the HIV/AIDS coalition that Walgreens supported, and we volunteered at events unrelated to TS. By being an active member of the coalition, TS created additional relationships with the Department of Health, Chicago Public Schools, and the local radio station, all while building a stronger relationship with the Walgreens corporation.
Be strategic. Look for opportunities to add value. Go in with a clear message about what return the partner is going to get. How can you assist the organization to reach its goals, and vice versa?
• If you’re working with a school, build your program model into the curriculum
• Look for areas where the organization has poor performance and position your organization to provide a needed service
• Use your expertise to customize a media property for the partner
• Understand your competitive advantage and point of difference
Example: TS has recognized that the Chicago Public School (CPS) system has out-of-date marketing and educational materials that do not resonate with the youth of today. TS has positioned itself as an expert in custom designing materials for CPS. In turn, TS received a contract to custom design a student workbook for the CPS department Graduation Pathways.
Empower youth. No one can sell the value of your organization and media product better than the youth you serve.
• Partners, especially marketers and advertisers, need to be educated on what youth media is and what it can do. Young people have an uncanny ability to persuade and influence a potential partner.
• Train young people to pitch advertising and partnerships.
• Pitching and articulating the value of your organization can be a great opportunity for young people to learn about the business of media.
Example: TS youth have pitched advertising to Walgreens, Black Entertainment Television (BET), Nike, Boost Mobile, Burrell, Starcom, General Mills, McDonald’s, and others. Our youth have also presented to funders Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and the Polk Bros. Foundation, to name a few. Having youth pitch advertising has been one of the most successful strategies TS has implemented. By empowering young people to articulate the value of the organization, the media you produce and its impact on society, you will touch a chord with most potential partners. You don’t just tell them the value—you let them witness the value first hand.
Adopt a collaborative spirit. Youth media organizations often find themselves in a competitive mindset, grappling with other organizations for students or resources. But by using the model of a joint venture, youth media organizations can work together to partner with a greater variety of organizations and create a bigger effect.
• Youth media organizations working with youth media organizations
• YMO working with CBO
• Using another’s specialty to meet the needs of each organization
Example: TS recently partnered with Free Spirit Media to produce a Hoops High page in the publication. Hoops High is a program of Free Spirit media in which students announce, direct, and operate cameras to make their own sports show. TS was having a challenge developing sports related content for the magazine. By partnering with Hoops High we receive sports content and they have another vehicle to market their TV show and programs. TS in return will receive advertising via their on air programming.
Example: TS recently partnered with the Economic Awareness Council (EAC) to produce financial and business content for TS Magazine. EAC is a non profit organization whose mission is to prepare students and families for the economic and financial decisions they will make both today and tomorrow. EAC was able to bring their sponsor HSBC – North America into the partnership to sponsor TS’s Teen Biz section, ultimately helping to underwrite our cost of printing. EAC students produce financial and business related content for TS magazine.
Next Steps
Partnerships with the advertising and marketing sectors are essential to grow the viability of the youth media field. To be sure, most small organizations have large shoes to fill, making it very likely that you do not have every skill or competencies needed at a moment’s notice. But by creating on-going partnerships you can have a good network of experts available to you.
Furthermore, if more youth media organizations worked to build expertise with marketers, it is possible that the field could create a youth media advertising agency in the near future. This agency could aggregate the audiences of multiple youth organizations to create more value for a potential marketer and for the field as a whole. It is in our best interest to invest in new partnerships and advertising revenue to sustain the field and bring forth our collective skills and knowledge to our important work.
DeAnna McLeary is the co-executive director & co-founder of True Star Foundation and True Star Magazine. She has an extensive background in marketing and advertising sales as a former account executive for Essence Communication Partners. McLeary cultivates relationships with ad agencies and consults clients on their marketing needs to creatively design solution packages. McLeary graduated magna cum laude from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), earning a bachelor’s of science and a master’s in business administration with a concentration in both marketing and finance.
Na-Tae’ Thompson is the co-executive director & co-founder of True Star Foundation and True Star Magazine. She has previously worked for Vibe Magazine, House of Blues Chicago, GMR Marketing, Chancellor Marketing Group and Universal MazJac Enterprises. Her diverse client list ranges from Miller Lite to Roc-a-Fella Records,from from Chicago’s Power 92 radio station to Luster Hair Products—a result from developing sponsorship proposals, conducting research and analysis, and organizing events. Thompson holds a master’s degree in arts and youth community development and a bachelor’s in marketing from Columbia College Chicago.
www.truestarfoundation.org
Category: 2009
Practicing Journalism, Preserving History
From a young age, inner city young people know they cannot depend on major newspapers, television stations or radio to cover their accomplishments. The television trucks show up only when an act of extreme violence takes place. The reporters never interview the class valedictorian or a young person whose art work won an award. These young people know that if they want to read accurate descriptions of their communities, they will have to write them.
For more than a decade, I have worked with young people as publisher of the Residents’ Journal, a magazine for and by low-income adults and young people in Chicago. In 1996, I was hired to launch Residents’ Journal as an independent news source for the city’s public housing tenants. Two years later, we started the Urban Youth International Journalism Program (UYIJP) to work with young people from public housing.
At the time, both programs were funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Chicago Housing Authority. But in 1999, we broke away, formed our own not-for-profit organization named We The People Media, and secured foundation funding to keep our mission going. Since then, both programs have won national awards, trained hundreds of young people as well as adults, changed public policy, and informed a community that lacks access to media outlets.
I scaled a steep learning curve during the first years of my tenure. My background as a journalist, college instructor, high school teacher and English major did little to prepare me for running a not-for-profit organization. In particular, I had to gain an understanding of what it takes to operate a successful youth journalism program in low-income neighborhoods, where we had to address the poverty of families, the prevalence of violence in neighborhoods, and the demolition of homes. But whenever I doubted whether the effort was worth it, I thought of the young people who had graduated from UYIJP.
One incident in particular taught me how powerful youth journalism programs can be. In 2000, a coalition of thousands of young people marched to downtown Chicago to protest cuts to the summer jobs program. The chief spokesperson for the protest was Quintana Woodridge, a participant in the first class of the UYIJP who had graduated from high school and started working for a community-based advocacy organization.
As one of the lead organizers for the event, Quintana developed a comprehensive media strategy for the march, telling each group of marchers to pick a spokesperson in case a reporter approached them. The next day, in the Chicago Sun Times article about the march, I saw quotes from Quintana as well as from Shelaina Bradley, who was a current student in the program. Shelaina was marching with fellow students at her alternative school. When I saw her the next day in class, I asked Shelaina why her peers chose her as their spokesperson. She explained that the other students told her, “You know how to talk to the media.” I was never prouder.
UYIJP and Housing Development
The wrecking ball began slamming into the Chicago’s public housing developments in 2000. Most of the former tenants ended up deeper on Chicago’s South Side, in other segregated, low-income communities with conditions that are horizontal versions of the public housing high-rises. The drug dealers and customers who had been based in public housing for decades simply relocated, often to the same areas to which the former residents moved.
The residents’ new neighborhoods worsen as the recession deepens, unemployment expands, and foreclosures sink moderate-income homeowners as well as tenants of foreclosed property owners. The City of Chicago promised to replace the demolished public housing developments with mixed-income communities, but construction is far behind schedule. Just a few hundred units have been built. For many of our young people, this means that they are separated from their former neighbors, people that are as close to them as their siblings.
We decided to change the UYIJP along with the changing situation of our families. For one thing, we decided to bring the program to the communities. Previously, we’d hold classes at a central location. But the participants’ parents explained that the cost of sending their kids downtown was a burden. Also, they were worried about their children’s safety during the journey. The parents have good cause for concern. So far this school year, 36 Chicago Public Schools students have been killed, mostly in gang-related shoot-outs on the city’s streets. To address these concerns, we began dispatching our teachers to schools, community centers and churches.
We had always recruited professional journalists as teachers. Now we needed journalists who were comfortable traveling around the city and meeting with the kids in their neighborhood institutions.
As a new not-for-profit, we also had to modify our programs to deal with the fact that we no longer had access to federal dollars. Special grants from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed us to take the kids on trips to Washington DC and overseas to Ghana and Israel. That had been a powerful incentive for the young people to participate. Now we needed a new incentive.
We decided that the right thing to do was to begin paying the kids for their work. On the adult side of Residents’ Journal, we had a policy that the publication would be run like any other professional newsroom. Freelance reporters got paid by the published word at rates that were even with similarly sized publications. We decided to pay young people the same way.
Paying young people for their articles gives them work experience, helps with their family’s tight budgets, and underscores the program’s main lessons—that young peoples’ intellectual contributions are valuable. The young people’s articles are published in a special four-page section of every issue of Residents’ Journal. Whether they are producing videos or print, the young people are getting training that isn’t available in their schools or neighborhoods. They are also producing news articles, documentary films and radio for an audience that rarely gets positive portraits of its young people. Like many of our colleagues, the UYIJP regularly collaborates with other youth media projects around the country.
Youth Media Can Form Community and Create History
In a lonely building on an empty lot on the South Side of Chicago, a group of former residents of the Ida B. Wells public housing department gather every week to practice journalism. Many of them have experienced turbulence in their lives, and many continue to face challenges of poverty, drug abuse and worse in their own families. Journalism is a way to maintain the support network they depend on, and to exorcise the demons that harass them. For them, reporting, interviewing, researching, writing and editing are not just about generating news. They are tools to preserve memories and uphold the bonds of community.
The young people’s articles in Residents’ Journal help former residents help old friends stay in touch in their new neighborhoods. Since the paper is distributed throughout the city’s neighborhoods, the journal has helped former tenants reconnect and reminisce as a community. As a result, Residents’ Journal has become a virtual community for the tens of thousands of families who relocated after their public housing developments were torn down.
The journal is also a way for young people to write history, applying the rigor of journalism to their personal experience. In the most recent edition of Residents’ Journal, one youth reporter investigated the effects of the public housing demolitions on families. Another wrote about food deserts, the term for neighborhoods that lack access to good quality produce. Marcus Lane wrote about a policy that restricts students from traveling to other schools to see sports games. The article originated with Marcus’ disappointment at not being able to see his friends on his high school basketball team play a rival. Marcus talked to school officials, who explained that they developed the policy after several shootings took place after games, and to other young people and to learn their opinions on the ban. His instructor helped him craft a coherent narrative to inform the reader. Taken together, the articles are records of the lives of marginalized, African American and Latino young people from low-income families. Their stories are unavailable anywhere else but the few youth media programs and resources in Chicago.
The UYIJP and other youth media programs are doing more than providing kids with a means of self-expression. These programs train young people to participate in journalism, one of the most important institutions in a democratic system, and teach them skills to help them engage with schools, teachers, bosses, colleagues and the media. Just as important, their work counters the prevailing wisdom that young people—especially those in struggling communities—are illiterate, apathetic and indolent. Instead, youth journalism shows that young people are covering the important stories of their lives and communities, preserving history in the way media should.
Ethan Michaeli is the executive director of We The People Media. Ethan is the founder of Residents’ Journal and the UYIJP. Ethan was formerly an investigative reporter for the Chicago Daily Defender and is a current part-time faculty member in the Journalism Department of Columbia College-Chicago. He is the author of “Another Exodus,” an essay published in “Black Zion: African American Encounters with Judaism” (Oxford University Press), and has written for The Nation, the Chicago Tribune, In These Times and Heeb.com. Ethan is a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature.
* * *
Two years ago, by former tenants of the Ida B. Wells public housing development created The Other Side of the Fence, an anthology of articles and photographs of Ida B. Wells shortly before the development was demolished. A piece from this anthology is included below.
The Wells
The Wells is a place of many different flavors
Plenty of drowning souls that could all use a savior
Like every community it has its ups and downs
A place where you’ll see many a smile turned upside down
It used to be a place that I thought was full of danger
But now that I’ve been here awhile I’ve made some friends out of strangers
There were times that the feet and fists of others tried to hurt me
It’s part of an everyday fight for survival where they show no mercy
Leases get terminated here for non compliance
And the media would have you believe that everyone here is violent
Though it’s not a tourist attraction like Wisconsin Dells
When it’s gone we will never forget the Wells
The little things like hurting my knee when I was riding my bike and fell
To when I got hit by a car and my cousin ran to tell
It may not mean much to others, but to us it’s a landmark
Things like the writing on the walls could even be viewed as art
A lot of our friends and family are gone from the Wells most of them have moved
The day is on the way that we’ll wake up and the Wells will be new and improved
When that day comes we’ll be ready for a new start
But know without a doubt, the Wells will always hold a special place in our heart
A Change in Focus: Youth Media Shapes Community
Youth Media programs are, by nature, uniquely poised to be effective vehicles of youth self-expression, protest and social change. But how effective is this programming in the long-term if we do not make an effort to use these tools to make change in the communities where our students live?
Many times, youth experience great change in youth media programs; however, outside the media-making space, young people often have to squeeze their newly enlarged vision of the world back into the small, often stifling or dangerous spaces of their neighborhoods or schools. Youth media organizations can help make this transition easier by working with families, community partners, and schools to improve young people’s lives and decrease city-wide violence. Partnering with key stakeholders must become a key component of youth media programs in order to contribute to the continued growth and long-term sustenance of the young people we serve.
Of course, what with increasing budgetary constraints and overworked staffs, running a youth media program is difficult enough without thinking about expanding our reach to service entire communities and families. But while the challenges are many, they are not insurmountable. One of the first steps we can take is to incorporate a broader, more holistic vision of our students’ lives—one that incorporates family and community resources—into our program structure and goals.
Young Chicago Authors (YCA)
I am currently the director of publishing for Young Chicago Authors, and have worked with the organization to develop and promote its publishing initiatives for 5 years. For over 18 years, Young Chicago Authors has cultivated voice and vision in youth ages 13-19 by teaching creative writing and performance. YCA began simply as a space where young people could come to write and be a part of a community of writers. Freedom of expression and the nurturing of a safe community space remain core values of the organization.
Contrary to popular belief, writers do not write in isolation. Writers thrive when they are exposed to diverse experiences and perspectives. YCA celebrates the fact that its students come to the organization from all over the city of the Chicago, and with them bring a multitude of experiences, needs, and interests. YCA also believes in writing and creative expression as a means of creating change in individuals and communities. YCA actively seeks to nurture the rich diversity of its community and support the growth of young writers.
One of the primary ways that YCA does this is to encourage a lifelong relationship with the organization. Staff members and teaching artists for the organization reach out to and make concerted efforts to maintain mentorship relationships with both current students and YCA alumni. YCA also encourages its alums to teach and mentor current students by providing employment opportunities to graduates of the program. This allows older students, many of whom are pursuing careers in education and social service, to gain valuable teaching experience, and allows younger students to see that it is possible to make a living as both a creative artist and an educator. This also instills in all of our students the value of giving back to a community that nurtured them.
Whenever possible, YCA also seeks to involve parents in our programming. We invite parents and families to all of our events, and we have asked parents to serve on our Board of Directors. YCA also, on occasion, offers writing classes for parents, giving them a creative outlet that mirrors that of their children, and that, hopefully, encourages families to share with one another.
YCA has also recently been making an effort to establish relationships with local elected officials to develop youth-centered media and writing programming that meets the needs of their communities. For example, YCA is currently working with a group of aldermen to develop a series of student-produced Public Service Announcements to promote safe spaces in some of Chicago’s most crime-ridden neighborhoods. Students will conduct research and interview community members to gather information about their neighborhoods. This project will enable students to become visible agents of change in their neighborhoods and encourage community members to work together to combat violence. These governmental ties also open the door for YCA to become involved in discussions about—and perhaps the creation of new—educational policy that will ensure that children in all neighborhoods have access to safe, creative spaces.
Suggestions for the Field
Involve key stakeholders despite a small budget: Involving key stakeholders in the community—parents, elected officials and business owners—can be done with no or minimal cost. Incorporating community members as an integral part of existing youth media programming, as well as creating new community-based projects and collaborations, not only can enrich the program, but also help youth understand that they have access to a network of concerned and supportive people in their own communities. Youth and community members need to recognize that they are all part of an intricately woven community tapestry.
Build non-youth media specific partnerships: Establishing partnerships with local community organizations and law enforcement and family service agencies will strengthen youth media’s overall impact. Establishing personal relationships between youth in the community and these agencies makes it harder for children to be treated as “faceless” entities in the community and could reduce the tension and stereotyping that often exist among these groups.
In addition, youth media practitioners must learn from existing organizations and service providers in the local communities where we work. As young people document and disseminate information about existing neighborhood initiatives, they can initiate collaborations and projects to uncover and address needs that are not being met. We need to nurture and provide these opportunities, including employment, for youth to become leaders in their communities.
Suggest community-youth media projects: When youth engage in projects like recording local CAP meetings and interviewing residents to get a better sense of needs of the community, they are using media to build bridges between these agencies and constituencies, which benefits both the community and the field. In this context, youth are seen by the community as valuable contributors, and young people, in turn, can begin to recognize the valuable resources available to them in their own neighborhoods. Youth media programs must investigate community resources to better supply young people with life-tools they need.
Dedicate resources for at-risk youth: Many young people who enter youth media programs express that they have complicated family situations and require safety within the community. Although I would not suggest that youth media organizations should, or have the capacity to be social service providers, I do want to acknowledge that beyond our programs, students live lives that require support and attention. Building relationships with local agencies could provide youth media organizations an opportunity to know what services are available and to direct students to resources they might need beyond our programs—such as housing, counseling and shelter.
The Effects of a Holistic Approach
Those of us who are youth media practitioners and supporters have witnessed first-hand the “magic” that happens when young people come together to work towards a common goal-compiling a magazine, creating a film or collective work of art. Barriers and gaps around race, geography, affiliations, and interests that exist outside of the meeting place fade away and the alchemy of transformation begins. Young people begin to teach and learn from one another and, in the process, discover and uncover new layers of themselves. However, if this transformation is not supported beyond the time and space of a particular program, the “magic” that is created can all too easily fade away.
By incorporating a holistic approach to youth media programming, one that actively encourages and creates opportunities for youth to engage with their communities, young people will learn more about their communities and be able to use that information to effect change, whether through policy, advocacy, media communication or artistic reflection. Youth media producers will also increase their sense of visibility and power, thereby improving self-esteem and self-efficacy.
In addition, focusing on youth media that reaches an adult audience will help communities see young people not as a threat or a drain on resources, but as active, engaged community members.
Youth media programs must play a significant role in helping youth, families, and neighborhoods identify and assign value to the resources that they have. This may lead to increased understanding, need and support—both financial as well as participatory—of youth media programming, thereby creating more opportunities for youth media organizations.
This shift in perception not only has the potential to transform small, daily interactions and one-on-one relationships, but also to improve the overall tone of a neighborhood or community. Young people and adults come to perceive that they’re in the work together, and they take greater responsibility for improving their physical space, the policies that affect them, and their social interactions. Youth media programs must incorporate into their programming a vision that includes not just individual youth, but also the communities and families and institutions where young people are educated, work, and live in order to sustain and encourage continued growth among youth media producers.
Natasha Tarpley is the director of publishing at Young Chicago Authors. A former Fortune Magazine Reporter, she is also the award-winning author of several bestselling books for children and adults.
Resources
See the “Neighborhood-Based” approach of the Harlem Children’s Zone (www.hcz.org), a New York City nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty through the provision of comprehensive neighborhood based educational and community programs for children and families.
The Knowledge Works Foundation, based in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, is a foundation committed to “reinventing the relationships between school districts and community, demonstrating the power of a school created and sustained by a village.” Learn more about their community-centered model and policy initiatives at www.kwfdn.org/schools_communities.
In Search of Safe Passage
As a parent and technology professional raising a man-child in the Digital Age, I’m conflicted. Mainstream media has become the primary source by which we parents are informed about the world, while technology has lured our youth, into what we believe, is the dangerous world of the Internet.
Like most parents, I have heard horror stories of young men and women “hooking up” with strangers found on MySpace, FaceBook, and other web-based chat rooms. We see our children and their friends plug into technology many of us don’t understand: we don’t know what the tools are or what the next generation is using them for. Technology increases the sense many of us have that we’re losing our young people—not only to the digital age, but to gang and street violence, to high drop-out rates, to feelings of despair, alienation, and powerlessness.
At the same time, I recognize that technology is the very tool my son uses to explore and develop his social and cultural capital. It connects him with his peers, and it has the potential to play a larger role in his professional future.
Fortunately, youth media can be a critical bridge between parents and young people, helping alleviate many parents’ fears about where the digital world might be taking our children. Equally important, it can help provide young people safe passage from adolescence to adulthood.
Youth Media as Safe Passage for My Son
I personally experienced the role youth media played in my son’s life. Shortly after the death of my father in December 2007, I experienced the most horrific feelings of hopelessness. My son, once a cheerful, confident, and spirited young man, had become a withdrawn and dark stranger suffering from the loss of his best friend—his grandpa. I was helpless and didn’t have a clue as to how to reach him. He began to show signs of self-doubt and self-destruction.
Not only did I have to find a way to reach my son, but my son needed to begin his journey into adulthood. He was turning 16 and had not thought about his life after high school. Knowing his love for movies, writing, and reading, I found Community Television Network (CTVN) on Chicago’s After-School Matter’s website. After his acceptance into the digital video production internship program, both my son Teal and I began to heal through his youth media experience at CTVN. Teal did a 3- to 5-minute video about his grandpa, interviewing himself and my memorable experiences with my dad. It was powerful and “therapeutic” for us.
Youth media allowed Teal to re-direct his energy into the creative process of filmmaking and over the past year, developed a passion for editing. Teal developed critical life-skills during his time with CTVN. Often times, Teal would come home from “work” and share with me the cool things he learned in working with Program Director Tom Bailey or one of the older youth producers.
Unbeknownst to Tom and others at CTVN, Teal had developed a strong sense of direction and self-confidence through the mentoring and guidance that CTVN provided. Teal has sought advice from CTVN staffers about pursuing other internship opportunities to expand his learning and experience in editing. This confidence has carried over to his schoolwork and the way he views himself as a young man coming of age. As a result, he now attends the DeVry University Advantage Academy High School (DUAAHS) and is studying web graphic design. He plans to complete his degree at DeVry and take classes in film at Columbia.
Safe Passage & Community Television Network
Youth media offered a space for my son to explore and heal; specifically, it gave him safe passage. Researcher Joy Dryfoos and author of Safe Passages: Making it through Adolescence in a Risky Society (1998) defines safe passage as, “Assuring that children will be able to grow into responsible adults who can enter the labor force, become effective parents, and participate in the social and political life of the society.” In other words, safe passage means preparing children for the future and helping them make a safe transition from adolescence to adulthood.
While the core of youth media does not focus on “safe passage,” it often achieves it. Based on my first-hand experience with CTVN, students gain invaluable real-life work experience using professional, high-end tools such as Soundtrack Pro, FinalCut Pro, boom mics, HD video recorders, and more. They also learn to negotiate group dynamics, develop leadership abilities, and view mainstream media with a critical eye.
In an interview with Bailey, the role youth media plays in helping young people safely transition from adolescence to adulthood is evident. He explains, “Last year, we worked with 15 high school seniors at CTVN. Out of those, 11 are in college. The program really shows students a future in the industry. They finish a project where they can see their work pays off, [which supplies] positive reinforcement and motivation. You can develop meaningful relationships with the students that lack that kind of encouragement at home or in school.”
Youth media organizations like CTVN provide more than digital video production training. They mentor, guide, and motivate youth to strive for greater academic and professional aspirations—something often missing from the lives of at-risk teens.
What Youth Producers Say
Youth media helps fill a void and creates a safe place where teens can be productive, but still “hang.” During an informal small-group discussion with 20 high school teens employed as youth interns through Chicago’s After-School Matters (ASM) program, a few of the teens shared their comments about where they would be if they were not at CTVN: “’I’d probably be downtown just hanging out.’ ‘If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have anything to do.’ ‘I’d probably be at home sleeping.’”
In many of Chicago’s neighborhoods, it is not uncommon to find young people hanging on street corners with nothing to do. I believe youth media can inspire change for these young people and create alternate spaces for them to put their time and energy to better use. Given that many teens hang out in groups, they can leverage this group dynamic to structure a meaningful and concise way of communicating, through youth media. CTVN youth producer William Colon explains that he and his crew “contribute their voices to a larger community” while promoting positive youth images through media. A recent video project, for example, emphasizes the importance of youth participating in art as a positive alternative to gangs and drugs while telling their stories of oppression, death and pain.
Youth media provides both young people and parents the “why” behind their actions. Youth media can afford parents insight into the psyche of young people—with the hopes of using what we learn to create safe passage solutions based on what they need and feel and not solely on what we want for them.
So Where Are the Parents of Youth Producers?
Because youth media has shown itself to be so important in the lives of many of our teens, I expected the audience, as in years past, for the spring screening at CTVN this year to be packed. Sure enough, about 30 teens attended—but only five parents showed along with about six other adults (instructors and youth media practitioners).
I wondered if parents were still at work, but the screening was at 6:30 p.m. I wondered if youth producers possibly did not inform their parents about the screening; or, perhaps the location was too far for parents to attend. I couldn’t help but wonder: are we re-living DJ Jazzy Jeff’s (Will Smith) 1988 youth anthem, “Parents Just Don’t Understand”—20 years later?
While I still don’t know why more parents didn’t attend the screening, I am confident that those who weren’t there missed out on an important opportunity to connect with their children and other young people. As the mother of one youth producer said, “I had no idea what kind of work [my daughter] was doing. I mean I know that she has always been technically inclined, but I had no idea the level of work these kids produce. Other parents need to know about the work these kids are doing. This is a good program!”
Building the Bridge
Youth media can bridge the “generational gap” that exists between parents and young people. While I’m confident youth media organizations are creative in their outreach to youth, perhaps a joint collaboration of youth practitioners focused on parents will increase youth media knowledge among adults. Attendance to local events like “Healing the Hood” in the Little Village community is a venue youth media can showcase youth works to help parents see their children as burgeoning adults with informed, thoughtful opinions on anything from the environment to politics and school policy.
In the future, a Youth Media Summit specifically for parents would be a useful way to engage parents, youth, and other youth media practitioners in a meaningful dialogue about collectively supporting youth media as a catalyst for safe passage initiatives in our schools and neighborhoods. I believe this type of forum would help break down barriers and lead to real solutions that will:
• Reduce parents’ fears and misconceptions about youth media
• Open or improve communications between parents and youth
• Increase parent involvement in youth media initiatives
• Spark discussion about linking youth media and safe passage in communities plagued with gang and youth violence
Next Steps
In a time where we are losing our young people to violence, creative solutions are needed to connect parents, teens, and the community out of the digital fog. What will inspire a youngster from Englewood, the Wild Hundreds, or Westside to put down a gun and pick-up a video camera? How can youth media serve as a catalyst for change while helping parents become more aware of what’s going on in the world beyond mainstream media? We live in a time where practitioners, decision-makers and concerned community stakeholders need to explore the integration of safe passage initiatives into youth media projects to save our youth and our communities.
Babylon S. Williams is an undergraduate student at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) in Chicago, Illinois pursuing her degree in Community Development. She works as a professional for an instructional technology firm and is a member of Family Focus, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), and the Midwest Education Regional Association (MWERA). Babylon is also the proud mother of her 17-year old son, Teal Williams.
Calling all Youth/Youth Media Bloggers!
Participate in the Seventh Youth Media Blog-a-Thon
Topic: Getting Grown During a Recession
Building on the success of 2008’s virtual events, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap Magazine are proud to announce our sixth weeklong Youth Media Blog-a-Thon to kick off on May 13th.
We are calling all young bloggers (between the ages of 14-26) – along with any bloggers dedicated to writing about youth issues and youth media – to blog from May 13th to May 20th about: “Getting Grown During a Recession”.
We want to know what it’s like for young people to come of age during one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history. What is like to search for your first job. Go to college? Share new family responsibilities?
Here are some ideas to address in your blog posts:
*Are you looking for a job? Describe your experience, and how does it compare to your past experience looking for a job?
* Are you graduating from school? Are you nervous about entering the job market? Explain.
* How has the economic recession affected your future plans? College? Etc.
* Have you gone through any major changes in your life recently? Involving, friends, family, work, personal life. How have you coped with these changes?
* As a high school student, while applying to college did you pick a major taking into consideration which fields pay the most money? Why or why what?
* As a college student, do you feel your degree will help you get a job in today’s job market? Why or why not.
* How has your community gone through any major changes? Were they positive or negative?
* Do you think Obama’s presidency has changed your community, the nation, and the world’s perception of America since his election? Why? Why not? Explain.
If you are interested in being a part of the Youth Media Blog-a-Thon, please email Eming Piansay at epiansay @ newamericamedia.org.
Sponsoring Organizations:
For over 15 years, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia has been a leader in youth-produced content in the Bay Area. Through our active website (http://www.youthoutlook.org), YO!TV – a weekly 30-minute television show on Access 29 in San Francisco, and our weekly YO!Radio segments aired on KMEL 106.1, YO! gives young people a voice on the issues they most care about. YO! content is also regularly syndicated in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oakland Tribune and more. The YO! blog has been active since 2007.
WireTap is a national news and culture magazine by and for socially conscious youth. Our online community promotes social justice, inspires action and gives young people a voice in the media. Wiretap provides free, daily content to over 60,000 monthly visitors and 14,000 weekly newsletter subscribers. Our award-winning journalism and youth commentary is syndicated every week on www.thenation.com, www.AlterNet.org and Chicago Sun Times, college papers, and hundreds of our stories get linked to in widely read blogs and websites from Mother Jones blog to Fear of a Brown Blogger to social networking site www.MyBloc.net.
Celebrate the Sixth Annual New York City Grassroots Media Conference (NYCGMC): HOPE TO ACTION
Youth media screening with Youth Media Reporter, Thursday, May 14!
The Sixth Annual New York City Grassroots Media Conference (NYCGMC): HOPE TO ACTION is just around the corner—May 30th!
Before we kick off this important media event, we are dedicating a special night to the invaluable contributions YOUTH make to grassroots/independent media.
Thursday, May 14, 2009, 6-8pm
Academy for Educational Development
100 Fifth Avenue, between 15th & 16th Street
(L,N,Q,R,W,4,5,6 to Union Square; F,V to 6th Ave)
The NYCGMC, in partnership with Youth Media Reporter, will host a screening and discussion of short youth video works. This event will give youth media creators an opportunity to have their work seen and a chance to network with other members of the New York media community.
As this year’s conference theme is HOPE TO ACTION, we are screening new media projects that address issues of activism, social justice, culture and community empowerment. Following the screening, youth producers engage in a Q&A and panel discussion of their works.
Please join us to support and encourage young people to continue following their dreams.
For more information on the NYCGMC, please go to www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org.
Please email info @ nycgrassrootsmedia.com with any questions.
UNICEF wants to see what you think about children’s rights!
It’s the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), a document that celebrates all the important rights young people have. Make a video showing what child rights mean to you, whether in the world at large, your country, your community or you personally. Videos must be one minute in length and will be judged by professionals and youth from around the world. Winning videos will be featured in the CRC 20th Anniversary campaign and the 2010 ICDB. Read more about the CRC and the contest at http://www.unicef.org/voy/takeaction/takeaction_4439.html.
Deadline is 1 August 2009.
A call to youth photographers!
Adobe Youth Voices (AYV), a global youth media initiative, and the nonproft What Kids Kids Can Do, Inc. are delighted to announce our first-ever international photo competition.
When written in Chinese or Japanese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters–one represents crisis or danger, and the other represents hope or opportunity. We have taken this as inspiration for our groundbreaking competition. “Crisis and Hope” offers an exciting opportunity for youth around the world to express themselves through photographs–and make their voices heard–on both what is challenging and what gives hope in today’s difficult world.
Winning photographs will be showcased online, in a traveling exhibit, and in a book.
The contest is open to all young people–anywhere in the world–between the ages of 12 and 19.
The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2009. Winners–as many as 30–will be announced by August 31, 2009.
For more information, please visit http://www.wkcd.org/AYV_Photo_Competition/Home_.html.
Youth Producing Change: Human Rights International Film Festival
Save the Date: June 19 – 20, 2009
Young people are on the frontlines of many of the world’s human rights crises, but it’s all too rare that we get to hear their perspectives. The second edition of Youth Producing Change shares 10 powerful stories from young filmmakers across the globe as they turn a camera on their own lives and share their visions of change.
Screenings will be held at Film Society of Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater 165 West 65th Street, Upper Level (Between Broadway and Amsterdam).
For more information about the festival, please visit http://www.hrw.org/iff.
For group tickets & questions please email Cynthia Carrion – carrioc@hrw.org.
Complimentary CD: Students Talk About Practice
What does it take to get really good at something? Are people experts because they are born with talent–or do they get to be expert by practice?
The question goes to the heart of achievement in every field, in school and in careers. Last spring, with support from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, WKCD asked three classes of Chicago public high school students to explore the answers through interviews and photographs.
The students looked for ordinary adults who had special mastery in a field, and asked them questions about how they gained their skills. And because many students also have expert skills, they talked to us about that. What inspired them to put in the time and effort to acquire them? Could they see any connections between their out-of-school interests and their academic skills?
We have created a CD from the project that includes:
–the narratives and photographs that resulted from students’ interviews with adults
–an audio-slideshow of students reflecting on practice
–curriculum overview of WKCD’s process in developing this project.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COMPLIMENTARY COPY, please email us at info@whatkidscando.org. Please include your mailing address and a word about yourself.
With good wishes,
Barbara Cervone, President