letter from the editor

Letter from the Editor | Youth Media Reporter (Volume 4: Issue 5)

Welcome to YMR’s fifth issue of Volume 4 with a focus on “Investing in Youth Media.” As many of our readers know, YMR has been documenting the best practices and high points of the youth media field for over four years.
During this time, we have found that the most common challenge facing youth media programs in the U.S. today is identifying foundations to sustain investments of youth media programs. This sentiment has been echoed in national youth media surveys (see Kathleen Tyner/NAMAC), key reports, several articles published in YMR, in conversations at the 2009 Youth Media Summit (hosted by The McCormick Foundation and AED/YMR), as well as the “State of the Youth Media Field” white paper. (See also “Ten Nonprofit Funding Models,” Stanford Social Innovation review, Spring 2009).
With this in mind, in 2009 YMR staff reached out to approximately 40 funders to get a sense of the value they place on youth media. YMR asked funders to speak specifically to the six priority issue areas identified by key stakeholders in the field: Youth and Adult Leadership, Developing Strategic Partners, Research and Evaluation, Distribution, Curriculum, and Professional Development and Networks. At the time, with support from the McCormick Foundation, YMR staff were developing a Youth Media Investment Prospectus—a project that was later halted in response to the economic downturn and consequent shifts in foundation priorities.
For this issue of YMR, we re-approached funders to contribute a special issue that provides readers with a range of perspectives and insights in the youth media field, including: funders (The Stuart Foundation and The Stone Foundation); intermediaries (GFEM and NAMAC); and practitioners (Wide Angle Youth Media). Many thanks to our eight contributors:
• Clark Bell, Mark Hallett and Janet Liao, The McCormick Foundation
• Lin Ishihara, The W. Clement & Jessie V. Stone Foundation
• Susan Hayman Malone, Wide Angle Youth Media
• Alyce Myatt, Grantmakers for Film and Electronic Media
• Rhonnel Sotelo, The Stuart Foundation
• Jack Walsh, National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture
This issue’s return to the issue of youth media funding and sustainability reflects the increasing relevance of youth media practice in education and youth development. Without a doubt, youth media practice resonates with a variety of funding organizations.
Many funders agree that youth media programs are valuable because they engage youth as actors and creators, encourage youth interaction with their communities, engender a sense of social responsibility among youth, provide hard and soft skills that scaffold success in school, the work place, and in life, and contribute to a future heavily reliant upon media skills and social innovation. As Frank Baiocchi from the Polk Brothers (Chicago, IL) explains, “Media is a vehicle for young people to find their place within their community and get a better sense of their world. Through youth media, youth voices are heard on a variety of issues—including health, gender, LGBT, immigration—in order to debunk myths and fill in the gaps.”
Moreover, young people today require multiple forms of literacy—including media and visual literacy. Integrating youth media literacy in youth programs across issue areas would greatly change the social climate that young people operate within. As Alyce Myatt explains, we are in a “state of emergency.” Though these times produce rich soil for innovation, investments in youth media—despite its acute success in youth development and youth engagement—have suffered.
My personal suggestion to practitioners and investment stakeholders in the field is to visibility communicate on a broad scale the power of youth media as a strategic tool that unites and leverages multiple—if not all—issue areas. Youth media can make a major contribution to areas of health, education, environment, the economy, poverty/incarceration and inequity, and workforce readiness, to name a few. Funders who are serious about these issues must consistently make long-term investments in youth media rather than falling privy to funding “the next big thing,” an all too often short term gratification.
Youth media is a critical mechanism for defining culture, identity and representation in the 21st century. Foundations, schools, business and the Government can make a major difference in the future by focusing on scaling youth media for the long term. It is my hope that this issue of YMR informs and ignites a dialogue to propel the youth media movement forward, as amplified as our collective intended aim for youth voice.
We look forward to your comments regarding this issue. Our next and final issue in 2010 will focus on the successes of youth media alums and how youth media kick started their own movements.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Hu Dahl
Editor-in-Chief, Youth Media Reporter
Youth Media Reporter is managed by the Academy for Educational Development

This issue of Youth Media Reporter is supported by:

New Orleans • Volume 3 • Issue 6

Letter from the Editor

Welcome to YMR’s final issue in 2009 – New Orleans Volume 3: Issue 6. With support from Open Society Institute, these practitioners and their colleagues met on October 21 to discuss the most pressing challenges of their work.
Following this meeting, contributors wrote and revised drafts that were reviewed by a local peer, a member of YMR’s national peer review board, and AED/YMR staff, as a means to engage a youth media rich and yet underrepresented region to the field.
In this issue, you will find that New Orleans is still in the state of re-building schools, communities and neighborhoods, with several new youth media and youth-led organizations taking the lead. New Orleans has started a local collaboration of youth organizers and youth media practitioners, which you can read about in Dana Kaplan and Minh Nguyen’s interview.
A warm thanks to all nine contributors for their dedication and hard work:
• Liz Dunnebacke (New Orleans Video Access Center)
• Brandon M. Early (Innocence Project New Orleans, Students at the Center)
• Dee Dee Green and Mallory Falk (Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools)
• Dana Kaplan (Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana)
• Jim Randels and Kalamu ya Salaam (Students at the Center)
• Minh Nguyen (Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans)
• Vicky Mayer (Tulane University)
A special thanks to Kelly Nuxoll, YMR’s writing coach for her stellar coaching and edits as well as to YMR’s Peer Review board for giving helpful feedback to each writer.
Many thanks to Minh Nguyen, YMR’s peer review board member, the founder and executive director of Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans, who was instrumental in organizing and leading the cohort.
I had the pleasure of seeing Minh in action at VAYLA-NO, where he is well loved by the community; and, I met several young people at the organization, starting with yoga and ending with deep conversations about voice, abuse, identity and sexuality.
Minh has helped foster a strong community of young people in New Orleans that welcomes all ethnic groups. He and his colleagues are dedicated to youth-led initiatives and contributing to youth-organizing collaboratives throughout the city. Like many of Minh’s youth media colleagues, youth media is a strategy that goes hand in hand with youth organizing and activism. In rebuilding New Orleans, these educators focus on young people for solutions, cleaning up much more than what Katrina took from their everyday lives.
We welcome you to join the conversation for each of these articles using YMR’s “comment” feature. You can also send feedback or comments directly to idahl@aed.org. If you are interested in posting a pod or vodcast response, please contact YMR’s media crew or email idahl@aed.org.
To reserve your copy of YMR’s annual print journal (Volume 3), you can subsrcibe and purchase via credit card or by check.
Warmly,
Ingrid Hu Dahl, Editor-in-Chief, YMR

Youth Media Reporter is managed by the Academy for Educational Development

New Mexico • Volume 3 • Issue 5

Letter from the Editor
Welcome to YMR’s New Mexico Volume 3: Issue 5, where practitioners in New Mexico (specifically in Albuquerque and Santa Fe) investigate youth media practice and share their insights to the field. With support from Open Society Institute, these practitioners and their colleagues met on August 19 at the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community to discuss the most pressing challenges of their work.
Following this meeting, contributors wrote and revised drafts that were reviewed by a local peer, a member of YMR’s national peer review board, and AED/YMR staff, as a means to engage a youth media rich and yet underrepresented region to the field.
In this issue, you will find that New Mexico has a complex landscape, where practitioners work among different ethnic groups, including immigrant, indigenous, rural and queer youth; multiple different languages; and, a large geographical reach. Most of the contributors in this issue share a media justice approach to their work, and make use of strategic partnerships, successful mediums (such as radio), and media literacy. Included in this cohort is a principal of a public, media and arts education-specific charter school.
A warm thanks to all twelve contributors for their dedication and hard work:
• Deborah Boldt (REEL FATHERS)
• John Braman & Judy Goldberg (Youth Media Project)
• Jessica Collins & Andrea Quijada (New Mexico Media Literacy Project)
• Roberta Rael (KUNM)
• Steve Ranieri (Quote…Unquote)
• Candelario Vasquez (New Mexico Media Literacy Project)
• Glenna Voigt (Media Arts Collaboative Charter School)
• Kamari Uni (KUNM) * Vodcast (forthcoming)
• Amber Chacon (Quote…Unquote) * Vodcast (forthcoming)
A special thanks to Kelly Nuxoll, YMR’s writing coach for her stellar coaching and edits as well as to YMR’s Peer Review board for giving helpful feedback to each writer.
Many thanks to Judy Goldberg, YMR’s peer review board member, the executive director of Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, NM, who was instrumental in organizing and leading the cohort. She explains:
“Joni Mitchell coined the phrase, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.’ I’d like to add, ‘you don’t know what you have till there’s a name to call it.’ This is how I felt when I learned about the Youth Media Reporter and became a peer reviewer.
Like many of you, I had been carving my own way into this field (not even calling it a field), forming relationships and contracts with people in schools, museums, radio stations and non-profits; believing in the potential and power of youth media producers, but never sticking my head up long enough to realize there were others doing this work.
Youth Media Reporter helps us rejoice in our commonalities and ponder our struggles; deepen our questions and affirm our actions. Our stories are vital for us to build a profession of credence and recognition.
Recently in New Mexico, practitioners have started to find one another. Though we face the obstacles of crazy schedules, distances and under-funded programs, we recognize the sharing of knowledge will only raise the level of our work. Youth voice, leadership development and having impact on policy-making are significant extensions of youth media productions, now receiving notoriety.
Sharing methodology, documenting our successes, naming our challenges and strategizing how we can support one another will ultimately unify our efforts and bring the best results for young people – whom we know benefit from this work. While educational systems are eroding, the time is ripe for youth media practices to move into the limelight.
Thank you, Youth Media Reporter, for charging our batteries.”
We welcome you to join the conversation for each of these articles using YMR’s “comment” feature. You can also send feedback or comments directly to idahl@aed.org. If you are interested in posting a pod or vodcast response, please contact YMR’s media crew or email idahl@aed.org.
To reserve your copy of YMR’s annual print journal (Volume 3), you can subsrcibe and purchase via credit card or by check.
Warmly,
Ingrid Hu Dahl, Editor, YMR

Youth Media Reporter is managed by the Academy for Educational Development