How Does Youth Media Inform Our Collective Future?

Do you ever wish you could see into the future – you know, the whole “crystal ball, tarot card, That’s So Raven-style vision” kind of thing? For some, scrolling through social media or turning on the news may reveal a bleak outlook on the state of the world: Climate change is leaving its indelible mark on the earth, buying a house doesn’t cost three hay pennies and a cow anymore (**for journalistic purposes, this is a hyperbolic joke**), and the horizon of a new, yet familiar, presidency may make you feel uncertain. As important as it is to be realistic with the present, the same can be said for holding optimism for the future.

Here on KQED’s Youth Media Team – a small but mighty team of two, composed of Youth Media Digital Producer / Program Manager Amanda Vigil and Youth Media Specialist Cheyenne Bearfoot (That’s me!) – we see the future every day. We sit down and have conversations with it regularly. The future is Youth Media Makers. We believe that the diverse ideas, opinions and perspectives of young people should and must be represented in public broadcasting because oftentimes their voices go unheard – especially on topics being publicly debated related to our collective futures.

This is the work we aim to support and are so thrilled to share with you in our first-ever quarterly blog. We’re covering some exciting new broadcast partnership opportunities, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how youth-produced media goes from ideation to broadcast, celebrating our Youth Advisory Board (YAB) alumni and glimpsing into our collective future. So if you want to peer into our crystal ball and see how we do things, keep on reading!

Youth Takeover (YTO) Season 8 Teacher Cohort: Milestones and Mega-Kickoff

Fall marked the beginning of Season Eight of the Youth Takeover Program. Although eight whole seasons seems like a long time, think back to what grade you were in at eight years old. That’s third grade! All that’s to say, we’re still learning and growing. One of those areas of growth is our Youth Takeover (YTO) Teacher Cohort. This year, we’re welcoming sixteen educators from twelve school sites across the Bay Area. For the first time ever, Solano County (Rodriguez High School) is represented – a major win – in addition to some returning folks! We have a goal-turned-mantra we like to say on the team: nine-for-nine. Which translates to: nine schools representing all nine of KQED’s Bay Area broadcast counties.

Why is this important to us? Well, no single Bay Area county or the communities within them are the same. Each of them represents a facet of what makes Northern California unique, and we want that as part of our program’s cross-section. This year we’re at 7/9 – but we’re remaining hopeful that Season Nine is the year we recruit full representation!

Teachers and students are our VIPs, so it’s one of our top priorities to ensure that they feel supported and well taken care of. One of the ways we do this is through our annual kickoff meeting at KQED, a social opportunity to present this year’s program offerings. Watching all faces both familiar and new filing into the space at this year’s kick off; seeing teachers delighting in the little things like forging a new connection or absorbing the timeline of our historical photo wall; devouring scrumptious Goat Hill Pizza (quite possibly the hidden sixth food group if you ask anyone at the Q); and marveling at the production spaces–really uplifts the importance of holding space for our partners. For them, showcasing this behind-the-scenes look at how all the magic happens to bring content to KQED’s audiences perfectly highlights how very real this opportunity is for them and for their students.

Another way we support teachers is our in-classroom and virtual touch points. Over the course of this season, the Youth Media team will have an impressive 80 touchpoints with Youth Takeover Classrooms that’s no small feat! These touchpoints include classroom visits to provide 1:1 feedback on students’ scripts and videos, field trip planning and YMC Showcase upload support for teachers, and of course the students’ field trips to KQED’s headquarters.

In the first quarter alone, we’ve met with five classes, and we’re thrilled to see these familiar faces and welcome our new friends back for another transformative year of youth-powered media!

2024-25 Youth Advisory Board (YAB): History in the Making

When you hear “advisory board,” what comes to mind? People on a panel offering input and feedback is the general connotation of that role. At KQED, our Youth Advisory Board does so much more than offer their diverse perspectives on programs, projects, and content – they’re making it. For the last 4 years, youth producing their own content has been the norm!

With over 130 applications pouring in this year, the Youth Advisory Board program continues to gain momentum and traction. Of our twenty members, we’re welcoming fifteen new folks alongside five returning members. The board members reflect the incredible diversity of the Bay Area, representing different ages, genders, races, and ethnicities. This is another area where our mantra – nine-for-nine – comes into play, and this year we’ve achieved a 7/9 broadcast county representation.

Alongside the YAB cohort, we also have our YAB Mentors; these are KQED colleagues from a range of departments and teams who work directly with these young folks to produce media projects for elevation to public broadcast. While we can’t reveal some of the finer details just yet, we can share that we’ve successfully confirmed six YAB Mentor projects – making this the largest team of collaborative mentors to date!

New to this year’s program is a partnership with WHYY, Philadelphia’s leading public media station. Using Youth Media Challenge curriculum, The YAB will work with WHYY’s video team to develop short videos (called interstitials) that will play on KQED TV channels between programs. The first batch of three, made by Abby K., Oumou C., and Amalia M., will air throughout the month of January 2025, and we’ll continue to roll out each new set of three for the next six months.

This exciting opportunity to create TV interstitials has led to some more historic firsts. This past fall, the YAB came to KQED for day-long workshops on video production and post-production.

During these workshop days, they got first-hand experience in KQED’s Digital Producers Space (DPS), recording studios, and edit bays to create high quality media. This has NEVER been done before!

YAB Alumni: Where Are They Now?

KQED YAB truly represents some of the Bay Area’s most outstanding young media makers. Regarding members who have “graduated” from the program, we’re often asked by colleagues, “Where are they now? What are they up to?” And the answer is that in-between their busy schedules and the remarkable things they’re doing, they still find the time to collaborate with us.

In late October, YAB alum Mahi Jariwala and returning YABer Ryan Heshmati participated in the Golden State Warriors’ Voters Win Fireside Chat at the Chase Center to help underscore the importance of civic engagement and participation in the voting process.

Mahi expertly moderated the panel, which consisted of California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., Warriors legend Adonal Foyle, youth Department of Elections Ambassador Emily Gorodetskiy, and Ryan.

In September, YAB alum Khadeejah K. had the exciting opportunity to facilitate a KQED Live event panel , co-presented by Mindshift and Youth Speaks: Rhymes for Reform with SF Poet Laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin. The event was an interactive creative journey for families to explore how poetry can inspire and help us communicate our collective vision for the future of education.

Over the summer, Khadeejah also joined the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) as their social media intern. More recently, she was selected to be part of The New York Times Corps, a talent-mentorship program for undergraduates pursuing journalism.

Khadeejah, alongside current YAB member Nico F., was also featured on PBS Student Reporting Labs’ Edward R. Murrow award-winning, student-led and student-produced podcast, On Our Minds, for a special seven episode season that focused on the issues and impacts of the 2024 election for young people.

We’re so proud of our alums and contributing current members!

Looking Ahead: 2025

As we roll into a busy new year, Youth Takeover Field Trip season is upon us! Considered the ultimate VIP experience for our YTO teachers and students, it takes a minimum of 8 – 12 staff members to seamlessly pull off each classroom’s visit to KQED.

Here’s to a season of growth, collaboration, and meaningful change! We hope you’ll join us in meeting the FUTURE of KQED TODAY as we continue to share a more in-depth behind the scenes experience of what it’s like elevating youth voices and youth media to broadcast. To watch and listen to more youth media, check out our Youth Takeover showcase and our Youth Media Challenge showcase!

If you have any questions, or would like to know how you can support youth media and youth voice, please reach out to youthmedia@kqed.org.