Report For America Corps Member Teaches Students Journalism Skills

"The crisis in journalism has become a crisis for our democracy. We are calling on a new generation of journalists to serve in community news organizations across the country. It is time to Report for America.”

To address this crisis, RFA recruited 60 service-oriented journalists who want to serve under-covered areas to provide Americans with the information they need to improve their communities and hold powerful institutions accountable.

One of these underserved areas is West Virginia.

Reporting for West Virginia Public Broadcasting, the talented Emily Allen is covering the state Legislature and public affairs throughout southern West Virginia. As an RFA Corps member, Emily is also working on a service project with our own ACE high-schoolers in Boone County, teaching story-telling techniques and creating youth-led media.

At our first session in October, Emily helped our students narrow down the focus of the project to areas of interest. There was a lot of passion in the room spanning many different issues, so this was no easy feat. With the intention of letting things unfurl naturally and not putting too many boundaries on the project yet, we’re keeping things open: In the months to come, students will create and share media centering around the intersection of youth mental healthcare access, the public education system, and policymaking in West Virginia.

The ongoing addiction epidemic in our state continues to be devastating for children and families. It means that the rate of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is increasing, and that our kids need more support than ever in the way of physical and mental healthcare.

At the same time, the continued political battle over the future of our public education system has created a host of compelling questions: How will accountability and oversight work for the recent $30 million allocated for wrap-around student support services? How will our state seek to fill the many, many open positions for school teachers and counselors? How can we expect under-paid school personnel and under-served students to cope without answers to these huge questions?

Having just completed their first audio-recorded interview with an official at the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, our student leaders are moving things right along. Even though we’ve just begun to co-create this project together, our youth are engaged and excited to be gaining such valuable skills and experience, and will hopefully uncover some good stories along the way.

I am personally thrilled about this project because it aligns so well with our program mission to center and lift up students’ voices, particularly on the issues that are impacting them in such a huge, direct way. We believe that our young people are the best spokespeople for themselves, and we should seek to never tell stories about youth without youth.

(Also, if anyone discovered a budding love for journalism that could turn into a career, that wouldn’t be an unwelcome result either!)

Please stay tuned for more as we share updates on this storytelling project!