Youth Communication

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for the Trending Launch Party! 🎉 What an inspiring time we had! From the engaging panel discussion with the incredible writers featured in the new edition of Trending to the insightful fireside chat with Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, and The Ohana Services, we heard about the powerful impact that Trending and our curriculums have in shaping the future of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in school communities. 🗣️📘🙌

🌟 Bring Trending to Your School 🌟

This International Day of Education, make a commitment to supporting your students with real stories that spark dialogue, build empathy, and inspire growth. Let’s partner to bring Trending to your school! Together, we can shape the next generation of thoughtful, self-aware, and resilient leaders. ❤️🤍

Want to bring Trending to your school?
📥 [email protected]

We’re excited to announce that YC’s Senior Director of Training, Janelle Greco will be presenting at the 2025 Empower Youth Success Annual Conference! 🎙️🗣️🌟

Join us for her session, “The Experts Are in the Room: Youth Voice and Culturally Responsive Practices,” on Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 10:15 AM to 11:45 AM in Governor E. 🙌

This is an incredible opportunity to explore how youth voice and culturally responsive practices can create impactful change! We can’t wait to see you there!  ❤️🤍

🎉 Trending is Here! 🚀
The wait is over - today is the day! We’re officially launching the Trending curriculum’s new edition, and celebrating 10 incredible years of amplifying youth voice and supporting teens with real stories and SEL (social and emotional learning) story-based lesson plans.

But that’s not all! There are just 3 days left to RSVP for the Trending Launch Party! Don’t miss this exciting virtual event where we’ll celebrate our milestone and the release of our updated curriculum, which is packed with even more culturally responsive content, inspiring stories, and powerful lessons. 🙌

Join us on January 24th, Friday at 12 PM for the Trending Virtual Launch Party! Informational Gathering 📘🎙️📖✨

🚨 RSVP NOW: BIT.LY/Trending2025YC 🚨

Want to bring Trending to your classroom?
📥 [email protected]

📚We are sharing a story about an experience many immigrant students face—the challenge of trying to connect with parents and other family members across a language barrier. In this piece, the English-speaking author is frustrated by the distance she feels from her Mandarin-speaking mother. Then when her father—who spoke more English—dies, and anxiety about health compounds her grief.  ❤️🤍

The writer vividly describes being marooned in fears that she can’t share. She takes specific steps to connect with her mother and thus her own resilience: sharing what she’s feeling through small, simple conversations; learning Mandarin through classes and cartoons; and eventually planning a trip to China for the Lunar New Year. While the story illustrates some of the unique cultural challenges that come with immigration, it also beautifully models how all teens can find ways to reconnect with their parents when they need each other most. 

“There were still times where we had misunderstandings…The difference was that now we were more patient in understanding that there was a language barrier.”

Click the Link in Bio to visit Youthcomm.org and continue reading 🌟📰

🌟 Happy International Mentoring Day! 🌟
At Youth Communication, we know that mentorship can change lives. 🙌

Our writer alumna and current ambassador, Ericka .ef shares it best:

“Without YC’s mentorship, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.”

This day is a celebration of the incredible connections that inspire and uplift young voices. Let’s honor those mentors who help shape brighter futures-one story, one conversation, and one life at a time. ❤️🤍✨

Welcome to a new year of YC stories. 2025 brings a presidential administration that campaigned on “othering” marginalized groups, including many of those our writers belong to. YC counters such stereotyping with stories like “Listening to Love,” which explores a uniquely complex identity. The writer has a hearing disability and is trans but not out to his religious immigrant family. Absent sympathetic adults, the writer finds the support he needs from peers, in particular a best friend he met online. 📚📖❤️🤍

“I could recognize that my mom wanted to protect me from stigma, but I didn’t know how to convince her that her choice hurt me more than others’ judgment did. I wanted my anger to transform into hatred so I could disregard my mother’s words, but I couldn’t because I still loved her.”

“Listening to Love,” like many of YC’s stories, describes experiences and strategies that teens often don’t share with adults. The writer’s mother has a vision of a daughter that clashes with the writer’s sense of self, so the writer must fake it at home while he navigates disability and self-acceptance with the help of his best friend.

Click Link in Bio to visit Youthcomm.org and continue reading the ✨

✨ Big News to Start the Year! ✨
You’ve been waiting for this moment, and we’re thrilled to kick off 2025 with the announcement of our Third Annual Spring Benefit! 🌷🙌🎉
🗓️ Save the Date: Thursday, May 15, 2025
⏰ Time: 6-9 PM
📍 Location: Riverside Church’s Assembly Hall (Entrance on 91 Claremont Avenue)
This year’s benefit is not just an event-it’s a celebration of the voices that drive tranformational positive change and the community that makes it all possible. 🌟
💌 Want to get involved as a sponsor, or volunteer? Make sure to contact us at Youthcomm.org!
Stay tuned-early bird tickets and our honorees will be announced soon! We can’t wait to celebrate some truly extraordinary individuals whose passion and vision have helped shape YC into the beautiful community it is today.❤️

Starting as a young writer in our program, Hande wrote many stories about her experience dealing with scoliosis, OCD, high school experiences, and the challenges of moving from Istanbul, Turkey to NYC. 🗣️📚

Some of her YCteen articles such as the “Violence Against Women” have also been published in Represent magazine, while her “Muslim Stereotypes” piece co-written with other YCteen writers was featured in the Learning Network Section of the NY Times. Hande’s stories were also published in YC’s story-based, social and emotional learning curricula for middle and high school students. 🙌

Hande graduated from Baruch College with her business administration degree in marketing. She stayed close to YC over the past decade as a volunteer ambassador and continued to make a difference through writing articles, and blogs on different online magazines and platforms and using her voice to advocate for other women with New York Women in Communications. ✨

We are happy to share that she is now part of the YC Team as our new Communications & Marketing Associate! ❤️🤍

It’s stories like Hande’s that highlight the true impact of our work: inspiring youth to amplify their voices and preparing them to be the leaders of tomorrow.

‼️ To Support YC’s Mission, Please Visit:
YOUTHCOMM.ORG/DONATE

📚 The holidays can be an especially difficult time for young people who don’t have a loving family at home. Emily Taveras, the author of this week’s story, entered foster care at age 2, and never felt like she had a real family or community. But when she joins Fair Futures, a youth advocacy program, she finds the feeling of belonging that she’d been missing.

In her story, Emily shows how she gradually built a new network of support for herself.

When she is kicked out of her adoptive home at age 18, she reconnects with two of her biological siblings, as well as her former foster care advocate, who in turn connects her with Fair Futures. There, she’s assigned a coach and tutor who give her the kinds of support she never had growing up. And she finds purpose and connection in working with other former foster youth to push for positive change in the system.

🗣️ “Rose and her husband not only became my family, they introduced me to the first “community” that I have ever known. It’s called Fair Futures.”

We hope her story is inspiring to other youth looking for a more expansive definition of family-a place where, as Emily puts it, they can be accepted, and not judged.

‼️ To read Emily’s story, “What Family Means to Me,” visit:

🌟 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/REPRESENT/ 🌟

📚 Last week, to mark the United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we shared Aster’s story “Out of My Room and Into the World” about dealing with an anxiety disorder. But as this week’s story shows, coping with a family member’s disability can be challenging too.

In her story, ‘I Accepted the Short End of the Stick,’ a young writer writes about growing up with a brother who has severe autism. She describes a confusing constellation of feelings: sorrow at her brother’s condition, bitterness that he gets most of their parents’ care, and anger that her parents expect more from the writer while giving her less. 📖

🗣️ “But feeling bitter and impatient won’t make anyone’s life easier. I needed to find other avenues to get my needs for attention met, which I found in my friends and peers. It isn’t ideal, but neither is life.”

As she gets older, however, the writer learns to build her own support system and find other sources for love and care. She comes to terms with the fact that, while her brother’s needs may always come first, her parents also love her and that she deserves support, too.

‼️ To read this story, visit:

🌟 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/YCTEEN/ 🌟

A huge shoutout to Virginia Vitzthum, Youth Communication editor, for her incredible work presenting at the Disarm the Hate: Youth and Gun Violence workshop. 🙌

On October 24th and November 7th, Virginia and other members of G**s Against Guns engaged with students from Benjamin Cardozo and Harvey Milk High Schools at the People’s Forum helping them navigate crucial conversations around youth and gun violence.🗣️🎤📣

A heartfelt thank you to Robert Croonquist for making this workshop possible. Robert, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his work against nuclear weapons, organizes this event every year to educate teens on gun violence, politics, policy, and the power of activism. The workshop culminated in the students’ making posters calling for gun control.‼️

Robert and Virginia were thrilled to see how the students shared their thoughts and experiences in a safe and supportive environment. “Together, we created spaces for healing and understanding. We are excited to see the impact this workshop had on the students involved.”
-Virginia Vitzthum, YC Editor 🌟

Virginia’s passion for activism and commitment to empowering young voices truly makes a difference every day. Thank you for standing up and making a change!💪

Cheyanne Deo: A Fierce Advocate for Youth 🌟

Cheyanne Deo, a former Awards for Youth winner and Fair Futures advocate, is a dedicated advocate for young people involved in the child welfare system. Currently a policy entrepreneur at Next100 , she develops innovative solutions to address housing instability among youth in and transitioning out of foster care. Her advocacy is driven by her personal experiences. 🙌

Cheyanne played a crucial role in securing $30.7 million in public funding for programs benefiting over 3,000 young individuals in care. Her commitment to transformative policy work is deeply aligned with Youth Communication’s mission of amplifying youth voices. ✨

🗣️ As she states, “I don’t want to just reform existing housing and foster systems - I want to reimagine them, in ways that uplift and empower vulnerable populations.”

📣 Join the Conversation: We urge our community to support this critical initiative and continue advocating to help spread the word. Together, we can push for comprehensive reforms that ensure supportive housing fulfills its intended role as a vital resource for young adults who need our support.

‼️ Read and Share the Report:

thenext100.org/trapped-in-transition-the-state-of-supportive-housing-for-former-foster-youth-in-new-york-city/

Let’s amplify the voices of those who have experienced these challenges and work towards a future where every young person has access to quality supportive housing. ❤️🤍

Alumni Spotlight: ⭐️

"Lush grass waved around us, green and soft and vast. It was like walking through the fur of some great, marvelous beast," Aster writes in this about embracing friendship and art after being diagnosed with agoraphobia.

As we gather to reflect on gratitude this Thanksgiving, we want to express how deeply thankful we are for you - our supporters, partners, and friends.❤️🤍

Your unwavering belief in the power of youth voices fuels our work every day. This year, we are proud to share our “We Believe” statement, which guides our mission and work.✨

This work would not be possible without your support. Together, we’re amplifying youth voices and creating real change in classrooms, communities, and beyond. 🙌

We hope you have a joyful and wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones. 🦃🍂🪵🏡

We are excited to share a sneak peek into our second year of our partnership with NYC Public Schools' Every Child and Family is Known initiative. Thank you to all the participants, our YC trainers, staff, DYCD Director Joshua Laub, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman for making the training a success! We're grateful to be working together to create real change with teens across NYC.

Trans Awareness week falls this year at a fraught time for trans and nonbinary teenagers. They were cynically targeted in last week’s election, and many are understandably frightened of what the next four years will bring.‼️📰📣

It is more important than ever to hear from these teens, so this week we’re spotlighting Spencer Katz’s story about coming out as a trans high schooler, which recently won the Media for a Just Society youth media award from Evident Change.🏳️‍🌈

“Every morning, I wake up in a body that feels foreign to me, and being constantly misgendered and harassed painfully reminds me of this.” - Spencer Katz ✨

You can read more of Spencer’s award-winning story on YCteen.🙌📚

youthcomm.org/story/arriving-finally-as-my-chosen-name/

Resources for Educators, Parents, and Other Potential Allies:

YC Writers React to the Election!📣🗣️🇺🇸

We asked our writers to share their reactions to the presidential election results and here’s what they had to say!🎙️🌎🙌📰📚🚨✍️

Now, more than ever, our youth need us. With Transgender Awareness Week approaching and big shifts taking place in our country, creating safe spaces for transgender and non-binary students has become critical.🏳️‍🌈📣🙌

Only 7 Days Left! Don’t miss out on YC’s upcoming webinar, Visible + Vital: Protecting Transgender and Non-Binary Youth, on Friday, November 15th at 1:00 PM (EST)‼️

Our youth are navigating new and greater challenges, and as educators and youth-serving professionals, we have a profound role to play. RSVP NOW to secure your place in this crucial conversation. 🎙️

RSVP Link:
YOUTHCOMM.ORG/VISIBLEANDVITAL/