Youth Communication is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

youth media organization based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

that promotes youth literacy and civic engagement through

youth-led media Youth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications. Movement These efforts form the basis of an international move ...

. The organization was founded in 1980 by

youth rights The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion o ...

pioneer Keith Hefner, who won a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

for his work with Youth Communication in 1989.

About

Youth Communication seeks to help marginalized youth develop their full potential through reading and writing so that they can succeed in school and at work and contribute to their communities. It publishes anthologies of stories by teens, many of which also include lesson guides to help teachers and other adults use the stories to help teens strengthen reading, writing, and social/emotional skills. Youth Communication also publishes two print magazines and associated websites:
YCteen
' (formerly called ''New Youth Connections''), a general interest magazine for urban teens; and

' (formerly ''Foster Care Youth United''), a magazine written by and for young people in foster care. Hundreds of stories and lessons by teens in the program are also available on the organization's websites. Youth Communication counts many notable alumni, including the authors

Edwidge Danticat Edwidge Danticat (; born January 19, 1969) is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, ''Breath, Eyes, Memory'', was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or ...

(''Breath Eyes Memory''), Veronica Chambers (''Mama's Girl''), and

Gina Trapani Gina Marie Trapani (born September 19, 1975) is an American tech blogger, web developer, writer, and technology executive. Biography Trapani was born and raised in an Italian people, Italian Catholic family in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York ...

(''LifeHacker''), the hip hop writer and actor

Bönz Malone Bönz Malone is an American writer and actor. Personal life Career Writing Malone began his writing career at Youth Communication in 1986, where he was a teen writer and reporter for New Youth Connections (later renamed YCteen), a magazine writ ...

, and the reporters Rachel Swarns (''The New York Times''), and

Mohamad Bazzi Mohamad Bazzi ( ar, محمد بزي) is a Lebanese-American journalist. He is the former Middle East bureau chief at ''Newsday'' and a current faculty member of New York University. Bazzi was the 2007-2008 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Co ...

(''Newsday''). Youth Communication has won numerous awards for its educational publications. In 2001 it won a Coming Up Taller Award from the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. In 2007, it was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the

Carnegie Corporation The Carnegie Corporation of New York is a philanthropic fund established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to support education programs across the United States, and later the world. Carnegie Corporation has endowed or otherwise helped to establis ...

, which was made possible through a donation by New York City

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

. It has won more than a dozen Distinguished Achievement Awards from the Association of Educational Publishers, including a 2011 award for best high school curriculum in the Health and Character Education category for ''Real Men'', its program on masculinity for urban teens. In 2006, the organization began producing video stories, more than 40 of which are on its YouTube site. They include news videos, personal stories, and "story behind the story" videos in which the teen authors talk about the writing process and why they wrote their stories. Youth Communication has also worked with outside directors. Ric Burns directed a video about the organization called ''Changing Lives, One Story at a Time'', and Michael "Boogie" Pinckney directed ''Alternative High'', a story about one Youth Communication writer's journey from high school dropout to high school principal that accompanies the ''Real Men'' program.

References

{{reflist

External links

Youth Communication
website.
YCteen
website
Represent
website Organizations based in New York City Youth organizations based in New York City Education in New York City Youth-led media Non-profit organizations based in New York City