Sara Melillo

<----That's me!

You don't need to consult the piles of research out there to know that teens aren't consuming "mainstream media." Just ask any young person, or your own kids. Don't get me wrong, they (or should I say, we?) are civically engaged and consume all kinds of media. But teens don't need to rely on adults to serve them the "news" or portray them on TV. Web 2.0 means teens can, and are, creating their OWN media to represent and connect in ways that adult-produced media never could.

We're lucky right here in Chicago to have a booming youth media sector engaged in producing print, magazine, online, radio and multimedia arts on topics that really matter to youth, from racism to environmental justice. The McCormick Tribune Foundation has pumped more than $1.3 million in grants to non-profits serving teen youth media since December 2005.

The young people have created video documentaries exploring a variety of topics, particularly on those of social change affecting teens. They've written stories about censorship at school.

Here's a youth-produced look at one of our local grantees, Street Level Youth Media, which provides education to teens in multimedia arts.



The teens also learn crazy new technologies that us dinosaurs could never get, like Open Youth Network/YouthLab's Map of Migrations. This interactive map, called a mash-up, charts the migration routes of the teens ancestors and present families. It also captures their "dreams for future journeys."

Check it out here: http://youthlab.net/category/our-migration-map/

Oh, and if you want to learn more about different youth media groups that we support, check out our grants list.