Our youth training program began as an idea to begin to teach media to scholars who were a part of a church program when the JP&E owner served as a christian education teacher; aligned with that she mentored Chicago Public School high school students though a successful mentoring program at Columbia College Chicago. 

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The program will entail teaching students journalism to advance their communication, critical thinking and confidence (CCC), which they will be able to carry with them over to college. Development through our program will teach journalism with integrity and the intent to influence people through current accounts with diligence, hard-work and ambition. 

 

The program starts from the premise that journalism is not journaling. This skill-building program will teach students journalism, which includes reporting, interviewing, research and some investigation in order to deliver stories based upon facts, quotes and true accounts.

 

Over the course of eight weeks, they will be taught about all phases of the journalism process: developing story ideas, interviewing, recording, drafting, editing, developing headlines, and publishing. Accompanying each stage of instruction will be hands-on experience putting the ideas into practice. Guest presentations by industry and/or academic professionals, occasionally at their sites, will accompany regular instruction. The final session will include a close-out ceremony and presentation of the compiled newsletter. 

 

Leading these efforts is Nia Jovan Andrews graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism-magazine article writing & completed a Master of Jurisprudence in intellectual property at The John Marshall Law School Chicago. She worked in administrative and staff support positions to gain professional knowledge carrying the experience into developing an online/digital publication, One Purpose Magazine. In 2010, she was recommended by the director of the journalism department, Nancy Day at Columbia College Chicago to mentor youth through a program called ColumbiaLinks and she has mentored Chicago Public School youth in many sessions since. Nia successfully led a similar journalism training program for youth through a magazine she founded. 

 

Students will be recruited from community partners, schools, and professional contacts. We will focus recruitment efforts on areas with lower ratings on the Child Opportunity Index

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Teens are given a $200 stipend for participating in the Youth Journalism Program: a portion of the  Stipend is disbursed mid-program and the final amount is given at the end of Summer ceremony. The stipend is contingent upon the teen’s participation. (Transportation accommodations will be discussed)

 

Journalism is not journaling. This skill-building program will teach students journalism, which includes reporting, interviewing, research and some investigation in order to deliver stories based upon facts, quotes and true accounts. 

 

The students will use GOOGLE BACKUP & SYNC, which is a shared network where their works will be housed in a cloud space and accessible at any computer. They will create a newsletter chronicling their journey in the program.  Their final articles will be in digital format at issuu.com for One Purpose Magazine’s annual issue.. 

 

We will use a blog page through One Purpose Magazine to share their stories, which is a free online blogging website to share information...students will also be asked to blog about current issues/concerns in their community.

 

Equipment: 

 

• Chromebooks - which are like tablets, but they are a Samsung product through Google that does not have a hard-drive, but through Wi-Fi it gives the user connection to Google Drive, which is like the standard drive that one would use internally at a company for shared documents. They are less-expensive than a standard lap/desktop and user-friendly. Google Drive is becoming more and more popular in the workplace, so knowledge of this will give the young reporters a leg-up.

• Reporter Pads 

• Pens (black & red)

• One digital camera  (this isn't a big concern as it used to be, most students have iphones now-a-days) since they have such expensive equipment, we’ll teach them how to get the most use out of them. These devices are very sophisticated and can be used to record video/audio and take professional quality photos. I personally will donate a HD handheld camera for students who will need to use it.  

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*there could be possible trips to new rooms/publishing companies or visits from professionals. If so, students will be given information prior to for permission to attend outside of normal meeting times. 

 

Week One: Discuss what we’ll set-out to accomplish; review what is journalism/writing styles; go-over editorial calendar; Assign roles for Newsletter

Homework: Sign-up for Google Drive (must have gmail account), watch tutorial if unfamiliar - Write short paragraph about yourself and why you’re interested in journalism/news literacy share with onepurposemag@gmail.com

 

Week Two:  Discuss the art of the interview; roundtable - brainstorm who we’ll interview; draft story outline. (Review my personal oral history) - Group photo/Individual Photo - Photographer onsite

 

Week Three: Interviewee should be contacted/interview setup; questions drafted; story outline completed - how to effectively use cameras, camcorders, audio recorders - Transcribing style

 

Week Four :First drafts due (entire time together should be spent on drafts); incorporate researching/attributions/expert quotes in meeting session

 

Week Five: Draft outline for newsletter/whitepaper together - Headlines...sequence of stories; photos/graphics 

 

Week Six: Final Draft due - Grammar 101/ edit own drafts first! 

 

Week Seven: Tie loose ends

 

Week Eight: Close-out ceremony/Presentation of White Paper for parents….Students will be given last stipend pay and a certificate. Magazine is digital they will be inform by email when it's available and have a printed copy of their article spread shipped to them. 

 

*Reference guides for youth 

 

Associated Press (AP) Stylebook

One Purpose Magazine Style Guide

Grammar for Journalist 

Guideline on Inverted Pyramid Style Writing

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We are trying hard to build-up an endowment through One Purpose Love Foundation so that we can go into organizations in communities hit hard by urban-decline and lack of resources to train up youth in media and civic engagement. We plan to not only have the resources and people to mentor but also to stipend youth for the hard work and contribution to the program.