Youth Communication

🚨 This Thursday is the final Respect for All PD session of the spring, and only a few spots remain ‼️

📚 THE EXPERTS ARE IN THE ROOM: Centering Youth Voice in Culturally Responsive Education
🗓️ Thursday, June 4 | 9–11 AM (virtual)

Culturally responsive education is strongest when grounded in the voices of young people. In this session, educators will engage with powerful, true teen-written stories from Youth Communication writers and use “mirrors and windows” to better understand both themselves and their students. 💯

Through reflection and discussion, participants will deepen their understanding of how youth voice strengthens belonging, engagement, and academic success. 🙌

Thank you to everyone who joined us this spring for Youth Communication’s Respect for All professional development series, in partnership with the NYC Public Schools Office of Safety and Youth Development (OSYD). ❤️🤍

🔗 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/RESPECTFORALL

➡️ Free | Virtual | 2 CTLE credits per session
➡️ Funded by OSYD | NYCPS staff only

📚 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) can be terribly isolating for teens. This week’s story is by a teen who broke through that isolation and found a therapist with whom she could talk about her swirling thoughts and racing heart. Zaria got a diagnosis, which comforted her in one way, but also worried her: “Realizing how common it was made me doubt whether it could be cured.” 🗣️🧠

Zaria’s story breaks down how therapy worked for her. To prepare for sessions, she wrote down each day’s challenges and “good things too, like when I made a friend.” She recounts the conversations with her therapist that helped her reveal some of her most guilty thoughts and also reckons with the need to keep pushing. “I didn’t want to talk to others about my feelings. I just wanted to be more social and less anxious. I knew my wish was unrealistic, and that avoiding communicating my feelings would only delay the growth I wanted.” ✍️

The story ends with Zaria focusing more on playing the guitar. “I noticed that when I played I wasn’t worried or battling my own imagination.” This discovery is a delightful addition to all the insights she shares. We hope readers benefit from her introspection, her honesty, and her comfort in music. 🎼🎶

✨ Bring More Stories to Life ✨
$125 covers a teen writer’s stipend for each published story! You just read what change in action looks like — a young person finding their voice and shaping how we see the world. At YC, your support turns experiences into impact. 💯

Click the link in bio to visit YOUTHCOMM.ORG/YCTEEN/ and continue reading 🗞️📣🌟

After a year of focused, transformative work, we are saying a heartfelt thank you and farewell to our Executive Director, Lori Rose Benson, whose last day with Youth Communication is at the end of May.

Lori came to YC at a pivotal moment. She reshaped the organization from the inside — strengthening our foundation, rightsizing for sustainability, and shepherding the vision that became YC CONNECT, our new free and open digital living library launching this August. She leaves behind something that will serve young people for generations. We are deeply grateful, and the organization is stronger for her having been here. 🌟🙌

As Lori closes this chapter, Youth Communication steps into its next one with an intergenerational leadership team we are proud to introduce:

✨ Keith Hefner, our Founder, steps into the role of Executive Director — bringing 46 years of founding vision, deep relationships, and an unwavering belief in the power of youth voice to the external work of the organization.

✨ Samantha Lilienfeld steps into the role of Managing Director — bringing nearly a decade of institutional knowledge, operational depth, and genuine care for this organization and everyone in it to the work of leading YC from within.

Different generations. Shared purpose. Exactly the kind of leadership model that reflects what YC has always valued. 💯

Thank you, Lori. And here’s to what comes next. ❤️🤍

🗣️ “My experience as a YC writer has been eye-opening. It taught me what it means to write for a real publication, stay committed to my story, and use my voice with purpose. My article is about how my speech impediment made me hide my voice, and how theater helped me find it again. It means a lot knowing my story could reach other young people and remind them they aren’t alone.” — Yeshaya Benknockee, current YCteen Magazine writer ✍️

For more than 46 years, Youth Communication has helped teens transform their lived experiences into powerful published stories that build empathy, connection, and understanding.

Because of supporters like you:
✨ Nearly 3,000 teen writers have participated in YC programs
✨ More than 10,000 authentic youth stories have been published
✨ More than 200,000 educators accessed YC stories and lesson materials in 2025 alone
✨ 50,000 young people were reached through YC programs and partnerships last year

These stories create a ripple effect that extends far beyond the page, reaching classrooms, counselors, youth workers, school districts, foster care agencies, social workers, therapists, and communities nationwide. 🙌

Your support helps ensure that more young people find their voice, more educators gain tools to connect with students, and more stories reach the people who need them most. 📚

Help us continue expanding the YC ripple effect. 🌊❤️🤍

🎁 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/DONATE

📚 Childhood sexual abuse is one of the hardest experiences to unravel and to heal from. This week we bring you an extraordinary story by a girl about the sexual relationship she had with a teacher when she was 12 and 13 years old and its aftermath.

🗣️ The story moves from relationship to breakup to therapy, and covers the writer’s shifting understanding of what happened. She writes, “In my eyes, he wasn’t an adult all put together…. Other adults didn’t tell me what upset them, much less ask for comfort. But he did, and that gave me a feeling of power. My parents and some other teachers hit me, whereas he told me, ‘Nobody’s ever loved me like you do.’” ✍️

The writer is 16 now, and the story ends with a shift. “Partly from therapy, partly from writing about it, and partly from being in a public high school out of my community, I’m not as sure as I used to be that it was a love that’s OK.” We hope this story helps survivors accept their own healing process and helps those who care for them better understand that survivors may see gray areas as they move through that process.

✨ Bring More Stories to Life ✨
$125 covers a teen writer’s stipend for each published story! You just read what change in action looks like — a young person finding their voice and shaping how we see the world. At YC, your support turns experiences into impact. 💯

Click the link in bio to visit YOUTHCOMM.ORG/YCTEEN/ and continue reading 🗞️📣🌟

📚 May is Mental Health Awareness month, and this year the focus is on healing through community. We bring you a story by a girl who was hospitalized for an eating disorder and got well enough to come home. J. describes how family therapy helped shift her own mindset from blaming to understanding her parents and appreciating their help. At the same time, her parents learned to listen to how she felt instead of reminding her, as J. writes, “that my life was easy and that I shouldn’t be upset.”

🗣️ J. also describes an important step on the way to family therapy: her friendship with B., the first person J. tells about her urge to cut herself. B. suggests she find a therapist, which J. stores away as a possibility. When B. herself gets depressed, J. writes, “I encouraged her with the same advice she had given me, to find a therapist, and eventually she did. I was proud of her. As the months passed, I noticed she looked happier and was engaging with friends more.” ✍️

This gives J. the courage to ask her own parents if she could see a therapist. Throughout the story, we see the power of both opening up and of helping someone in return. We hope reading this story, especially in a group, sparks conversations about how a healing community includes family, friends, and associates as well as mental health professionals. ❤️🤍

✨ Bring More Stories to Life ✨
$125 covers a teen writer’s stipend for each published story! You just read what change in action looks like — a young person finding their voice and shaping how we see the world. At YC, your support turns experiences into impact. 💯

Click the link in bio to visit YOUTHCOMM.ORG/YCTEEN/ and continue reading 🗞️📣🌟

🌟 From NYC to Madrid, award recognitions to teen storytelling, here’s a look at what’s been happening across the YC community this spring.

From celebrating our writers, alumni, board members, and staff to welcoming new stories, ideas, and opportunities, the YC community has been creating impact in NYC and beyond.

This spring, our Executive Director Lori Rose Benson attended Bloomberg CityLab in Madrid, where global leaders gathered to discuss the future of cities, education, AI, and community impact. YC was proud to be part of conversations centered around uplifting the voices shaping the future. 💯

Our Spring 2026 teen writers continued exploring topics including AI, identity, overconsumption, and personal experiences while building community, mentorship, and friendships through the writing process. ✍️ This spring, The Charles Hayden Foundation also visited to meet with our writers and support youth storytelling at YC.

We also celebrated milestones across the YC community, including:
✨ Lourdes Rosado receiving NYU Law’s Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award
✨ Arlen Benjamin-Gomez being named to City & State NY’s Above & Beyond: Women list
✨ Noshin Sayira receiving a Gold Key Scholastic Art & Writing Award
✨ Hande Erkan receiving Licensing International Foundation’s Scholarship Award
✨ Ericka François beginning her new role as Administrative & Communications Assistant at Nonprofit Westchester
✨ YC alum Arna Asad continuing her studies in psychology at Smith College

📚 We also continue our Respect for All workshops with NYCPS OSYD:
World Within — May 13
Welcome & Worthy — May 20
The Experts Are in the Room — June 4

This spring also brought exciting conversations about YC CONNECT, our developing digital living library preserving nearly 10,000 teen-written stories and decades of youth experiences. 🙌

Help us continue amplifying youth voices and building the future of YC CONNECT together.

🔗 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/DONATE

Thank you for being part of the YC community. ❤️🤍

What helps a young person feel seen at school❓

Sometimes, the most powerful tool in a classroom is a story. 📖

Not a textbook story, but a story written by a young person living through challenges many students carry every day but rarely talk about out loud. ✍️

At Youth Communication, we help teens transform their lived experiences into powerful published stories that educators use to build stronger, more supportive learning environments. When educators read these stories, something shifts. Conversations open. Empathy grows. Young people feel safer, heard, and understood. 🙌

That is the YC ripple effect. 🌊

As Joshua Laub, former Director of Youth Development at NYC Public Schools Office of Safety and Youth Development, shared, YC trainings help educators and youth-serving professionals support young people with greater empathy, clarity, and purpose. 💯

For more than 46 years, YC stories, curricula, and professional development trainings have helped educators build deeper connections with the young people they support. In 2025 alone, more than 200,000 educators accessed YC stories and lesson materials. 📚

Now, we are working to expand this impact even further by developing YC CONNECT, our new free and open digital living library. This platform will make nearly 10,000 authentic teen stories, high-quality curricula, professional development resources, and educational tools more accessible to educators and youth-serving professionals everywhere. ✨

Help us expand the YC ripple effect. ❤️🤍

🎁 YOUTHCOMM.ORG/DONATE