When it rains… You know the saying and, indeed, Youthcast Media Group has had an outpouring of big grant and donation support lately, starting with a generous two-year extension and grant increase from the Sozosei Foundation September 1 and funding from others I’ll get back to. While the downpour is most welcome, YMG, like most...
Tag: Recent stories
YMG is hitting the books for fall with new schools, new students and renewed vigor!
In September, we began a collaboration with two high school journalism classes, at Banneker High School in Washington, D.C. and Annandale High School in Annandale, Va. In these schools, which have long standing journalism programs and well-established school newspapers, we are working with students to beef up their health coverage, get outside sources and expand...
After prison, freeing the mind through reading and writing
This story was originally published on Black News & Views online version on Sept. 2, 2022 Gary Jaggers had spent nearly 40 years in prison when he discovered a way to escape his confinement, at least in his mind: reading and writing. And now that he’s been released, reading books and writing poetry and short...
Access to tobacco products, including vapes, and proximity of retailers pose challenge for youth
In Baltimore, more than 87% of tobacco retailers are within 1,000 feet of a public school, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Washington University in St. Louis. This story ran in the Afro News online August 2. East of Baltimore in Essex, Maryland, middle and high...
Col. Myles Caggins III brings commitment to public service, journalism and mentoring to YMG Board
Colonel Myles Caggins remembers when, while serving as a spokesman for the National Security Council (NSC) in 2016, he helped President Barack Obama prepare for an interview with the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It was the first time that the Japanese network interviewed President Obama, and Caggins, who had helped set up the interview, describes...
AccesSOS brings emergency services to Deaf community
Gabriella Wong received a text from her father saying he had gotten into a car accident, and she immediately called 911 for him. Both of her parents are deaf, and she is their hearing emergency point of contact that represents a life-or-death difference for them. While Wong spoke to a dispatcher on the phone, she...
Lifelong friends Larry Owens and Donald Shakir use art to handle life after prison
This story ran in Black News & Voices with the National Association of Black Journalists online July 28, 2022 By Aileen Delgado On May 24, 2012, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that portions of specific jury instructions were unconstitutional and that individuals convicted in criminal cases before 1980 were entitled to new trials —...
YMG teaches skills that are ‘applicable in anything,’ says former student
by Aileen Delgado Asha Davis, 19, a sophomore at the University of Maryland College Park studying public health, was one of Youthcast Media Group’s first students in 2017. As a freshman at Mercy High School in Baltimore transitioning into sophomore year, Davis worked with other Baltimore students at Morgan State University and in partnership with...
Climate gentrification: Rising seas lift home prices in drier, cheaper neighborhoods like Miami’s Little Haiti
Louis Rosemond lived in the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami, Florida, for 30 years, but was evicted in 2016 when his landlord sold the apartment building to developers who are preparing to build high-rise, high-priced condominiums on the property. Rosemond, pictured in his new apartment in Opa Locka, Florida, on April 19, 2022, says developers...
‘Alienated’ and other poems by Samantha Mills
Alienated I find it difficult to communicate with you, It's like you are of another species. I am an alien. Or maybe You are. We speak two different languages. I hold an alienated out of this world Tongue –I come from– Far out A million light years away My home planet sits On the corner...