YRLA Workshop

Art Share Los Angeles is a community arts incubator whose mission is to shape lives through art, education and community action. Operating out of a huge converted warehouse in the Artists’ District, Art Share offers free art classes with incredibly talented artists. The Los Angeles Times dubbed Art Share ‘the Town Hall of downtown Los Angeles’ for its function as ‘the meeting place of culture, ideas and education’. www.artsharela.org

VOX Atlanta Workshop 2007
Youth Radio Atlanta collaborates with youth organizations and schools to produce commentaries through writing workshops. Check out these contributions from students at VOX.

School Shooting
In the wake of last week’s shooting at a high school in Cleveland, Ohio Youth Radio correspondents from across the country weigh in about safety and violence in schools. Youth discuss their own safety, analyze the factors that contribute to school shootings, and suggest possible solutions to the problem.

High School Confidential Series
One hundred high school sophomores were assigned to write personal reflections as part of an essay contest at LA’s John Marshall High School. The winning entries were turned into audio essays through a collaboration between 826 LA, a writing program and Youth Radio, a youth media production company. Subjects ranged from multi-cultural identity, loss, relationships with parents to young love, reflections on the world, and teen idols. We're presenting some of these essays in our series High School Confidential.

Genarlow Wilson and Age of Consent
When are kids too young to have consensual sex? 15? 14?... 13? States all across the country set different legal ages for consensual sex. In Georgia, the law is currently set at 16. A recent case there involving a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl has attracted a lot of national criticism. Youth Radio’s Alix Black reports on how the case hits close to home for a lot of young people.

First Dates
Many parents feel that their high school-aged children aren’t ready for the responsibilities of dating and relationships. And while this is often a bone of contention between parents and their children, 17-year-old Hannah Johnson from Blunt Youth Radio couldn’t agree more.

Human Costs of Prescription Drugs
Eastern Kentucky is home to one of the largest prescription drug problems in the country, and one of the most abused drugs is a painkiller called OxyContin. This year the maker of that drug, Purdue Pharma, has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for misleading the public about OxyContin’s addictive qualities. Commentator Natasha Watts describes the human costs that prescription drug addictions have brought to her community.

Medicine Grows on Trees!
Herbal remedies have become a huge business in the U.S. as people seek alternative ways to get better and ward off illness. But for Youth Radio’s Antony Jauregui, herbal medicine isn’t the alternative; it’s a long-standing tradition in his family.

Abuso de poder del LAPD
El primer de mayo en Los Angeles se realizaron dos manifestaciones en apoyo de derechos de los inmigrantes. La segunda manifestación- en Mac Arthur Park- terminó en balas de goma y el gas lacrimógeno tirados por la Policía de Los Angeles (LAPD) y docenas de heridos. Había una clara distinción en la manera en que la Policía de Los Angeles se portaba en la protesta de Mac Arthur Park. Luis Sierra de Radio Juventud estaba en ambas protestas y nos cuenta su opinion de la razón detrás de esta distincción.

Private College
When Youth Radio's Bianca Butler arrived at her private college on the East Coast after four years at an urban public school in California, she got a rude awakening. All her college prep courses hadn't primed her for some of the biggest challenges of freshman year.

Teens Talk Sex Ed.
While the debate over sex education and how young people learn about sex is a popular topic for policymakers and educators, the real experts are young people themselves. Erica Granados-De La Rosa, a student and sex educator at the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, D.C., reports about teen sexual activity and how young peope are getting their information.

The Cambodian-American Cheerleader
June is a month filled with high school graduation ceremonies. Youth Radio’s Chandra Touch, a graduating senior from Portland, Maine and a first generation American, will be the first person in her family to earn her high school degree. There are many things about Chandra’s Cambodian-American lifestyle that her mother does not understand. Cheerleading has always been one of those things, but as Chandra looks forward to the next chapter of her life, she is realizing that her very American ambitions are also foreign to her mom. Youth Radio brings her story.

Smoking Advertisements
Tobacco companies are having a hard time coming up with successful ad campaigns to curb teen smoking. A recent study by The American Journal of Public Health found industry-run campaigns are not only ineffective, but they may have the opposite effect, and increase teens’ likelihood to smoke. So it is a scam or just bad advertising? High school student Sarah Smith explores what the research says, and what her friends who are smokers think..

Going Broke for Graduation
The cost of college is not necessarily the main financial concern for seniors in low-income areas such as Whitesburg, Kentucky. Instead many students are worried about just having enough money to make it through their final year of high school. Deirdre Gibson explains how the high price of making prom and other celebrations unforgettable events leaves many students flat broke. (May 25 on Marketplace)

MySpace Advertisements
Advertisers are trying to make social networking sites like MySpace work for them, creating personal profiles for TV shows, movies, and consumer products...hoping teens and young adults will link to them as “friends.” Youth Radio's Jordan Monroe discusses this marketing strategy from a young consumer's viewpoint. (May 16 on NPR)

Becoming AWARE
What happens when a group of young white people get together to talk about racial issues? The concept is catching on in places like Los Angeles, where high school students recently started an awareness group for white kids on campus. Youth Radio's Clare Robbins explains why some white teens and young adults, including herself, are separating themselves to talk honestly about the role that race plays in their lives. (April 15 on NPR)

Generation Katrina: Youth Voices from New Orleans
In this collection of personal narratives and features, Youth Radio documents the world of young people in New Orleans post Katrina. This Youth Radio special also explores the latest in New Orleans’ youth culture, featuring original music from students at NOCCA, New Orleans’ most esteemed performing arts high school. (Available to PRI members beginning March 30)

Killing Off Cancer
There's been a lot of hype about the new HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer and is being recommended for girls ages 9 to twenty-six. Many states around the country are considering mandating it, including Texas and California. Meanwhile young women and their parents are trying to sort through all the information to decide whether or not they should get the vaccine. Youth Radio's Alana Germany investigated the issue. (March 29 on NPR's Day to Day)