Youth Communication helps teenagers develop their reading and writing skills so they can acquire the information they need to make thoughtful choices about their lives.

We do that by:

• training teens in journalism and related skills;

• publishing magazines, books and other materials written and illustrated by young people;

• encouraging teens and the adults who work with them to use our publications to stimulate reading, writing, discussion, and reflection.

We currently publish three magazines. New Youth Connections, founded in 1980, is a general interest magazine written by New York City public high school students. It has a readership of 200,000 in New York City. Represent, founded in 1993, is written by and for young people in foster care and attracts a national readership of 12,000. Rise, founded in 2005, is an offshoot of Represent and is written by parents with children in foster care or who are receiving family support services. We have published 70 anthologies of young people’s writings and sold 60,000 copies of these books.

We also offer workshops and lesson plans for educators who want to use our stories in schools, after school programs, and foster care agencies.

Several underlying principles
inform our activities:

• Teens need a public forum for sharing their experiences, exploring the issues that affect their lives, and identifying their common concerns.  Our magazines are designed to provide that forum.

• Teens who read little else are more likely to read and heed stories which accurately reflect their experience and concerns.  The stories we publish provide a rich source of information and peer perspectives, and influence many teen readers to change their attitudes and behavior.

• For young writers and artists, producing a magazine for their peers is a powerful learning experience.  Through a rigorous process that begins by reflecting on their own experiences and place in the world, our students acquire a range of skills and develop the self-awareness necessary to effect change in their lives and in society at large.

• To grow and change, young people need to interact and bond with their peers.  We provide an environment in which teens from diverse backgrounds learn to support and respect each other.

• Reading and writing remain the best ways to encourage reflection and discussion, and stimulate the imagination.  Literate, thoughtful citizens are essential to the survival of a diverse, democratic society.

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