We have partnered with dozens of organizations that wanted to reduce dropout rates, increase immigrants' participation in the census, help teens age out of foster care more successfully, and provide high-quality professional development. Most importantly, we've helped countless organizations improve teens' literacy skills by providing engaging stories, lessons, and training, and developing customized interventions using our stories.
To find out more about partnering with us to develop or test a curriculum or engage a teen audience, contact Keith Hefner at khefner@youthcomm.org, or 212-279-0708 x102.
Following are some of the creative ways we have worked with schools and organizations to help them reach their goals.
America’s Promise: In 2011 we created a guide to succeeding in high school as part of the America’s Promise campaign to generate peer programs to reduce the dropout rate.
College Board: The Board commissioned teens at Youth Communication to research and write a 48-page booklet, "Student Voices: What Makes a Great Teacher?," that would identify and encourage teacher "best practices"--from the students' perspective.
 Development Without Limits: Since 2007 we have partnered with this professional development organization to create three programs that help teens strengthen the skills that are essential for success at school and work: Real Stories, Real Jobs, and Real Men, and to help staff implement the programs.
Foundations: In 1990, 2000, and 2010, we developed stories on the census for a consortium of New York City foundations, including the New York Community Trust. The stories were designed to spur the teenaged children of immigrants to encourage their parents to complete their census forms. (These were three of more than two dozen projects in which we created editorial content to help local and national foundations reach teens with information that would help achieve their programmatic objectives.)
Harlem Children’s Zone: In 2010 and 2011 we worked with HCZ to create reading and writing enrichment programs for teens in its after school and summer programs so that the student will be better prepared for the demands of high school and college writing.
Harlem RBI, Public Private Ventures, and Groundwork: In 2007 we worked with these organizations to develop Strong Teens, Strong Neighborhoods, an anthology and curriculum to encourage summer reading and a deeper understanding of the importance of community.
New York City Department of Education: More than 1,000 teachers and counselors use Youth Communication magazines and books each year at more than 350 schools. Many schools give school credit to teens who participate in our writing program.
New York City Department of Health: In 2010 we worked with the Department to assess Teen MindSpace and other mental health interventions for New York City teens. The Department also licensed our mental health resources for distribution through its own networks.
New York City Department of Youth and Community Development: We developed, piloted, and evaluated a work readiness curriculum, Real Jobs, for 2,400 teens in New York City's 2009 Summer Youth Employment Program. DYCD also used our Real Stories curriculum as part of its Cornerstone after school literacy program.
The New York Times: The Times prints YCteen magazine for free and hosts visits to its corporate headquarters and newsrooms by our writing interns.
New Yorkers for Children, and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services: We developed a website, www.youthsuccessnyc.org, to help teens who are aging out of foster care and the staff who work with them in conjunction with ACS and funded by New Yorkers for Children.
Partnership for After School Education (PASE): We worked with New York’s Partnership for After School Education on Partners in Healing, a comprehensive project to promote better mental health services for teens in after school programs.
The Success Foundation: This Dallas-based foundation developed a self help book, Success for Teens, that was built around 20 stories by teens at Youth Communication. It has distributed 1.5 million copies to schools, youth agencies, and religious groups.
The After School Corporation (TASC): The After School Corporation used our Real Stories program in its TASC-Masters of Literacy Program and at dozens of after school sites to promote reading, writing, and reflection among middle school students.
Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, American Social History Project, NYC Dept. of Education, Lehman College Writing Project, and others: From 1996 to 1999 we participated in Students at the Center, a project to help teachers in 20 New York City public schools develop more effective teaching practices and strategies.
Other Publishing Partners
Dozens of publishers have used Youth Communication stories as reading and writing models and to reach students for whom our stories have special relevance, including:
- Educators for Social Responsibility (The Courage to Be Yourself program)
- Harvard Educational Review (books and professional journal)
- Houghton Mifflin (Write Source secondary school and community college
English textbooks)
- Legal Outreach (9-12th grade out-of-school writing curriculum)
- Magic Johnson (book on HIV/AIDS prevention)
- Morningside Center for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL curriculum)
- ProQuest/SIRS (learning database for secondary school students)
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