Townhall on Teen Unemployment: Presented by Columbia Links, Nov. 2, 2011

Join the teen reporters from Columbia Links as they bring people together with their stories to find solutions to the plight of teen joblessness.The students will be hosting a town hall meeting on Nov. 2, 2011 at 618 S. Michigan Ave., Stage 2, starting at 5:30 p.m.  

In the meantime, check out the stories of Columbia Links students, who have worked tirelessly on their stories this past year. In addition to launching R_Wurd magazine.

The teen unemployment rate is several times higher than that of the national unemployment rate.

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Say What? Young Chicago Authors Report on Segregation in Chicago

Earlier this summer, Young Chicago Authors held its Say What Summer Institute summer wrap party at Navy Pier. Founded in 2002, Say What Magazine, a publication of Young Chicago Authors, gives teens the journalism tools and skills that they need to report, document and tell the stories that impact their lives and communities.

Students took on a reporting project with WBEZ's Vocalo.org discussing segregation in Chicago. You can view the work of the students here. We love seeing great content collaborations between youth journalism organizations and community news. Keep up the great work!

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Strengthening Community News in Chicago

This summer, the University of North Carolina’s “Business Models for Community News in a Digital Age” initiative produced three workshops for community and ethnic media in Chicago.

This initiative harnesses the skills of UNC professor Penny Abernathy and journalism students who helped small, rural North Carolina community newspaper develop an Internet presence and provide lessons learned for similar news organizations.

Like their counterparts across the country in urban and rural settings alike, smaller community and ethnic news organizations in Chicago have struggled to establish a digital strategy. From July to September, Abernathy hosted a series of  seminars at the Community Workshop that shared lessons learned from local Chicago news organizations including, Hi India, Extra and the Chicago Crusader. Missed the presentation? Download the PowerPoint slideshow and video from the seminar.

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Open Youth Networks: Finalist in Apps for Metro Chicago Contest

We're excited to hear that Open Youth Networks at Columbia College has been named one of ten finalists in Apps for Metro Chicago, sponsored by the Mayor's Office

Developed by Open Youth Networks with a team of women software engineers and students from Columbia College, IIT and UIC, Mi Parque - Little Village is a bilingual participatory placemaking web and smartphone application that helps residents of Little Village ensure that their new park is maintained as a vibrant, safe, open and healthy green space for the community. 

It's great to see creative innovation at the intersection of community engagement and technology. 

Like Mi Parque?  Public voting is live until October 14th, 5 p.m.

The voting process involves: 

1. Creating a login by clicking here: http://appsformetrochicago.com/user/login
2. Voting for at least 3 and no more than 5 of the ten finalists in the community round. Therefore, review the apps first here: http://appsformetrochicago.com/community_round_entries
3. OYN will donate any prize money to its community partner, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

Learn More

Apps for Metro Chicago site: http://appsformetrochicago.com/

App link for MiParque: http://appsformetrochicago.com/apps/mi-parque

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Apply Now for $35,000-$50,000 to Host a Reporting Workshop

Have an idea for a workshop for journalists? The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, in partnership with The Poynter Institute, welcomes applications from universities, journalism organizations and others to develop two-day training programs on key topics in 2012. Learn more and apply now to host a Specialized Reporting Institute in 2012.

Specialized Reporting Institutes (SRIs) are designed to meet the growing need to provide journalists and others with subject-specific expertise and practical reporting training on issues in the news. This year’s hosts conducted training for reporters on these topics:

• Covering the impact of the economic crisis on American families (Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation/Associated Press Managing Editors Foundation)
• Tracking stimulus dollars and covering the budget crisis in your community (Boston University/New England Center for Investigative Reporting)
• Covering public pensions (Society of American Business Editors and Writers)
• Political polling (American University School of Communication)
• Census coverage: Going deep with demographic and economic data (Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University)
• Covering Islam in the Bible Belt (Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism)
• Elections 2012:  The campaign for social media, a workshop planned for Oct. 25-27 (The Poynter Institute).

Applications are being accepted from universities, non-profits, training groups and others who would like to host an SRI in 2012.  For details, go to http://www.newsu.org/resources/mccormick-sri/. Apply by Nov. 15.

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Upcoming Town Hall Meeting on Jobless Teens

Mark your calendar for an upcoming town hall meeting on teen jobs, hosted by our friends at Columbia LINKS.

Columbia Links, a teen reporting academy, invites you to its town hall meeting, "Not Hiring: The Plight of Jobless Teens," moderated by journalist and media commentator Laura Washington at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. The evening will also launch the newest edition of R_Wurd, the teen magazine produced by Columbia Links students.

The latest government figures show teen unemployment at 25.4 percent nationwide in August 2011, nearly triple that of other major worker groups: adult men (8.9 percent), adult women (8.0 percent). Overall, 14 million Americans or 9.1 percent remain mired in joblessness. 

And numbers for summer 2011 are even bleaker for black teens: 46.5 percent in August, up from 39.2 percent in July, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The discussion is just beginning. Now let's act. We welcome your participation on Nov. 2.

Guests confirmed:

Jack Wuest of the Alternative School Network and who commissioned the Center for Labor Market study on teens and unemployment.

Jhatayn Travis, executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization and part of the coalition of community groups that sponsored teen hears and marches to Springfield and Washington this summer. 

U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush and/or Anton Seals, Cong. Rush's District Program Manager,  sponsor on teens and employment on the federal level.

Phillip Jackson, president and founder of the Black Star Project.

Teen panelists

Pending guests:

Andrea Zopp, president of the Chicago Urban League.

State Rep. Esther Golar, sponsor of the Teen Unemployment Bill 3631 on the state level.

The Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel

School Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard

So SAVE THE DATE for the Columbia Links town hall meeting and launch of the newest edition of R_Wurd (the Columbia Links teen magazine):

"Not Hiring: The Plight of Jobless Teens”

5:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 2, 2011

Stage 2 at Columbia College Chicago

618 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago 60605

Also, check out the Columbia Links site at www.columbialinks.org and see the video on jobless teens titled "The Summer Blues" (it's the one with the male teen standing in front of the Best Buy store).

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