News & Updates

August 2024 | Newsletter overview

Our writers and alumni continue to make waves, embodying YC’s mission in incredible ways:

• Chantel Jackson started her new role as communications specialist at Osborne Association.
• Spencer Katz‘s story, “Arriving, Finally, as My Chosen Name,” won the 2024 Media for a Just Society Award presented by Evident Change, shining a spotlight on the experiences of transgender youth. The award is given to creators who exceedingly portray“our social systems” current realities and the promise of reform.
• Janay Collins was a finalist for the same 2024 Media for a Just Society Award with their powerful piece, “Something Good Out of Something Bad.”
• Liza Tuyuc won best essay in the 2023 Dr. K. York &Noelle Chynn CUNY Ethics and Morality Essay Contest.
• YC alumni Cheyanne Deopersaud helped secure $30.7M in public funding for over 3,000 youth in care, reimagining systems to uplift underrepresented communities.
• Enoch Naklen is publishing an op-ed on high school journalism with Council Member Rita Joseph.
• Ronald K. Brown‘s recovery after his stroke was featured in the UK’s i Paper.

We are so proud of our YC writers and alumni and their impact!

This fall, we’ve continued to build partnerships and deliver impactful training:

• In October, YC provided trainings for Brooklyn Job Corps on using our On My Way and Real Men curricula. Brooklyn Job Corps is a workforce development organization that works with teens who are going into the workforce. They also provide educational services like TABE testing and HSE diploma acquisition. 
• We have also worked with Caliber Beta/Caliber Changemakers Academy in California on the middle school curricula.
• In addition, we wrapped up the Real Stories, Real Pathways program with NYC Public Schools.
• YC has kicked off the second year of our partnership with NYCPS Every Child and Family Is Known (ECFIK) initiative. Thank you to all the participants, our YC trainers, staff, DYCD Director Joshua Laub, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman for making the trainings a success! We’re grateful to be working together to create real change with teens across NYC.

If you are interested in learning more about these trainings, please email: [email protected]

ROSE PERNA HIGHLIGHTED IN CENTER FOR NYC AFFAIRS & ‘SEEKING SHELTER’ BOOKLET

YC teen writer Rose Perna’s housing story was republished by the Center for New York City Affairs and sent to their list of 12,000 people. Rose was also a speaker on our YC writer and alumni panel at our second annual Spring Benefit. 

NATHALI FELIZ, KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT ACS’S FOSTER CARE AWARENESS EVENt

Represent alum Nathali Feliz was keynote speaker at the plenary session for ACS’s foster care awareness event in May. She spoke about her experiences with the school system as a youth in foster care and now as a parent to a youth with special needs. She had specific feedback for social workers around building trust with youth and about advocating for them in the school system. 

YC PRESENTED AT KEY CONFERENCES: THE CASEL SEL EXCHANGE, PAVING THE WAY CONFERENCE, CSA LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, AND THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN’S GRIEF SYMPOSIUM

• THE CASEL SEL EXCHANGE
  Janill Briones-Lopez, YC’s Director of Partnership Development and Tim Fredrick, PHD, YC’s Managing Director of Education Programs represented our mission at the SEL Exchange hosted by CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning).
• CSA LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE 
  YC exhibited at the CSA 2024 Leadership Conference and introduced our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Professional Development (PD) programs while engaging with dedicated educators and leaders.
• PAVING THE WAY CONFERENCE 
  Janelle Greco, YC’s Senior Director of Training presented at the Paving the Way Conference. A conference about supporting youth experiencing homelessness. Our session “Talk to Me: Building Relationships with Youth Experiencing Homelessness” was presented to over 35 participants.
• YC’s Partnership Team represented us at the Building Bridges to Opportunity hosted by the Office of Student Pathways at the NYC Department of Education (NYCPS). We connected with wonderful principals looking to help their students graduate college and be career ready. Our “Level Up” and “On My Way” curriculum prepares our youth navigating the transition from college to becoming an early career individual.
  

YC’S RESPONSIVE WORKSHOPS TACKLE SYSTEMIC INEQUITIES:

• With foster care agency, SCO Family of Services at their site in Jamaica with youth aging out of care and/or leaving their group homes. The youth ranged in age from 17-25, with in total 12 of them. The first workshop focused on Goal Setting and we used Xavier Reyes’ story “Maxed Out” from On My Way.
• In a workshop about Managing Transitions, and we used story excerpts from Natasha Santos’ “A Method to the Madness” and a story by Giselle John. The workshops were well received and we will be doing more work with them and their Passages to Adulthood program moving forward.

sel day: Tapping into migrant teens’ sel strengths

Through the reading of a true, teen-written story, “Leaving El Salvador Forever” by U.S., participants gathered strategies that focused on bolstering SEL skills and strengths in this webinar held on March 8th. With an incredible turnout of over 50 people across the country, we discussed how we might challenge and broaden our mindset around migrant youth and explored learning strategies to take strengths-based approaches to SEL with this growing population.

SPRING stories ROUNDUP

This past spring YC’s year-round writing program published the following incredible stories and more. See below for a handful of these impactful stories and stay tuned for more stories from our  45th Annual Summer Writing Workshop, happening now:

▶ “The Film That Changed My Life” by Imogen Russell explores the film Carol that helps her make sense of her identity, desires, and waiting.

▶“Moving Forward On My Own” by Arna Asad is about accepting mixed feelings towards her abusive father.

▶“Adapting to Having a Better Future” by Saphir Wenzi is about her experience as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the struggles she faced while pursuing an education.

▶“With Help, I Made My Home” is a Represent story about navigating friendships, bullying, and public housing.

▶“The Price of Soda” by Alice Wong about trying to have a semblance of a childhood under desperate circumstances.

▶“Something Good Out of Something Bad” by Janay Collins about the challenges of living with sickle cell disease.

▶“Wrestling with Stereotypes” by Ushoshi Das about embracing a “men’s” sport (wrestling) as a young South Asian woman and encourages others to do the same.

▶“Housing Stability Changed My Life” by Rose Perna is about her experience moving from shelter to shelter, and the transformational impact stable housing and a couple of caring people had on her life.

Testimonial about YC’s Writing Program: “When you move so often, you sometimes get stuck in survival mode and just react to things. You stop thinking about who you are and who you want to be. That’s when bad decisions can happen – like they did for me. I’ve thought a lot about how I want to be and how I want to make good decisions that don’t hurt myself or others.

I hope that readers will read my story and understand how hard it can be to think about these things when you’re in survival mode and how important it is to find a way to do it anyway. I also hope that others reading this story will know they aren’t alone and that you can find people, like my editor and boyfriend, who will be there for you and support you in being who you want to be.”  Rose Perna, YC Writer

Development Associate: joanne narrido

Joanne joined YC as Development Associate in March 2024. She brings over 10 years of experience in art non-profits and higher education. Joanne’s passion is creating sustainable pathways for equitable access to resources for marginalized communities. Joanne has an M.A. in arts administration from Baruch College (CUNY) and a B.A. in sociology from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She is currently pursuing a fundraising certification in the Heyman Program at NYU. 

BOARD MEMBER: Bisrat Mekbeb

Bisrat “Bis” joined YC’s Board of Directors in April 2024. He brings a wealth of HR knowledge and experience, and a lot of enthusiasm for our mission!

Bis is VP, HR Business Partner at Global Atlantic Financial Group. Prior to Global Atlantic, he was Lead Manager HR Business Partner at Equitable where he spent 20+ years serving in various roles with increasing responsibilities. Through his long standing community engagement, he is a committed youth and mental health advocate. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Harlem Dowling and volunteers as a trained listener at Caring Contact.

OPEN MIC NIGHT

Join us on November 21st (6:00-8:00 PM) at the Center for Fiction for our second Open Mic Night of 2024!
Register to Perform | Register to Attend

INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING?

Join our Board of Directors or YC Ambassadors Leadership Committee! If you are interested in supporting Youth Communication in a leadership capacity, please email, [email protected].