Urban Youth International Journalism Program (UYIJP)

Training and youth involvement are central to this programme. All young writers must complete the newspaper's 8-week Journalism 101 class before joining the staff. Led by professional journalists, the sessions teach literary skills and enhance young journalists' ability to analyse media reports and social conditions. Participants study the function of media as a source of objective information in a free, democratic society. Advanced students learn about the function of media in democracy and gain broadcasting techniques in the Journalism 201 section. At any given time, between 20 and 25 students are in the two classes. The young writers tackle topics like gun control, teen pregnancy, federal poverty programmes, police brutality, and drug abuse.

Young writers are paid 15 cents a word for articles that are printed in English, with additional articles in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Korean. Residents' Journal is a quarterly publication written entirely by Chicago public housing tenants and distributed free of charge to 40,000 households in low-income communities across the Chicago metropolitan area. The printed journal is available in community centres, businesses, schools, and religious institutions throughout the city, as well as online. It tracks welfare reform, poverty, housing, and other issues affecting the lives of its readers. Articles and columns written and reported by young journalists appear in a 4-page youth section within the 24-page journal. In addition to Residents' Journal and the Chicago Defender, the articles produced by UYIJP participants also appear in other youth-oriented publications.

When funds are available, the young journalists have at times travelled with the programme. For instance, they journeyed twice to Washington, D.C. (1998 and 1999), where they met and interviewed high-level government officials. In 1998, 16 young people travelled to Ghana and Israel on a fact-finding journey in which they met and interviewed journalists, community leaders, and government officials. After each journey, the young journalists wrote articles about their experiences to the readerships of Residents' Journal and the Chicago Defender. The articles provided information on the function of government and the role of the media both in the United States and abroad.

In the weeks leading up to Election Day (November 2008), UYIJP students from one high school visited polling stations and volunteer headquarters to report on what was happening on the front lines and behind the scenes of the presidential race. Seven days before the election, UYIJP students organised a cultural activity involving students from all over their neighbourhood. At the event, which took place in a local park, UYIJP students observed music and spoken word performances which encouraged eligible youth to vote. They also conducted interviews with people who attended the event, inquiring about what policies and campaign strategies encouraged them to vote for one candidate or the other. The students then went to downtown Chicago to visit the volunteer headquarters of then-Illinois-Senator Barack Obama, who was running for (and eventually won) the presidency. At the Obama headquarters, UYIJP students spoke with volunteers about their roles in the presidential campaigns and how the media has covered the campaign.

Youth, Diversity, Journalism, Economic Development, Political Development.

We the People Media explains that young people in Chicago's inner city are experiencing unprecedented turmoil as a result of the ongoing demolition of the city's stock of high-rise public housing. When their buildings were demolished, most of the families who lived in Robert Taylor Homes, Stateway Gardens, and other developments moved into other low-income areas like Englewood, Roseland, and South Shore. In these neighbourhoods, the former residents merged with a much larger population of economically poor families who never lived in public housing. Where the population of public housing at its peak was approximately 150,000, U.S. census data indicate that more than 600,000 people are living below the poverty line in Chicago. One-half of that population, approximately 270,000 people, lives in households that earn less than US$10,000 annually.

Again according to organisers, on a national level, print media executives recognise that their industry is partially responsible for perpetuating stereotypes, and have responded by seeking to make their organisations more diverse. We the People Media contends that The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), among other organisations, makes a concerted effort every year to sponsor programming and conduct surveys to measure progress toward a diverse media workforce. Yet, by 2007, the percentage of minorities in print journalism decreased slightly - to just 13.62% of the total number of journalists. At Residents' Journal, women make up nearly 70% of the staff. African Americans comprise more than 90% of the staff, one that also includes Latinos and East Asians.

More than 150 Chicago inner-city youth have been involved in the programme. We the People Media explains that the work of these young writers runs contrary to the stereotypes of low-income housing residents in inner-city United States. A 2001 readership survey, for example, revealed that 84% of public-housing residents who responded had voted in the most recent election. Many residents are activists, driven to speak out on causes affecting residents of public housing.

We The People Media's YouTube Channel includes original coverage of key issues, documentaries (e.g., one about the aftermath of the beating death of Derrion Albert on Chicago's South Side, produced by Mary C. Johns, We The People Media's Deputy Executive Director and Residents' Journal's Editor-in-Chief), as well as previous episodes of "RJ TV," the project's live, call-in television programme over the CAN TV network.