Youth Communication

Teens in the Summer 2000 Youth Communication Writting Workshop complete a writting exercise.

Photo: Tony Savino

On its face, Youth Communication is a writing program for urban teens. It engages New York City young people in an intensive semester or summer workshop that trains them in writing, narrative techniques, interviewing, research methods, and word processing. Through this long process of discovery, analysis, exploration, writing and rewriting, each participant develops writing skills in many genres-personal nonfiction, memoirs, mainstream journalistic articles, social commentary, opinion pieces, music and entertainment reviews, poetry, and fiction- of the highest order. Each teen also builds a mentoring relationship with a teacher-editor who helps the young writer develop his/her academic skills. A consulting social worker ensures that the teens receive appropriate support.

But any similarity to the vast majority of youth writing projects ends there. The reason is, quite simply, Keith Hefner, whom some describe as "a unique pioneer in the field of youth literacy and teen development." A 1989 recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship for this work, Hefner designed a teen writing program in which teaching students to write is only the first step. Clearly, however, it is a step Youth Communication does well, given a roster of graduates that includes a National Book Award finalist, a Newsweek editor, and a New York Times bureau chief.

What adds a second, distinctive dimension to the program is publishing. Seven times a year, the teens' work appears in New Youth Connections. Meanwhile, the one-of-a-kind Foster Care Youth United magazine, founded in 1993 and published six times annually, provides readers with practical survival information and strong emotional support. Anthologies of the magazines' articles further extend their reach and impact, including The Heart Knows Something Different, a collection of essays from Foster Care Youth United, and Things Get Hectic: Teens Write About the Violence That Surrounds Them.

The third part of the program ensures that tens of thousands of young people read these publications and better understand the power of the written word. Hefner and his team have painstakingly cultivated a network of more than 1,000 teachers, librarians, counselors, and other youth workers who distribute the publications to 200,000 teen readers. This meeting of teen writers and teen readers makes the program a unique resource for conveying information and promoting teen literacy.