Previous YMG Newsletters
Every quarter, Youthcast Media Group® publishes and shares their newsletter to over 900 readers, each publication featuring a letter from the CEO, a content and programs update and a feature story.
April 2024 publication
YMG students’ public speaking complements their publishing success. We may be available for your next meeting!
YMG intern Hermes Falcon speaks on a St. Louis panel marking the one-year anniversary of 988's launch.
By Jayne O'Donnell
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She was one of two of our Washington, D.C. students to lose close friends to gunfire in April 2020. As the Washington Post reported, it happened during one week at the pandemic’s start while they were both reporting for Youthcast Media Group® about mental health.
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After her close friend and classmate was killed near her school, then-high school junior Heaven Pete was too devastated to talk to Post columnist Petula Dvorak. But when psychologist Ben Miller, then of the Well Being Trust, invited me and a student to join a national webinar about Covid and mental health, I couldn’t resist asking Heaven to join. No pressure. Just an offer to tell nearly 800 people what she and her peers were experiencing during the pandemic.
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She nervously agreed — and dazzled us all.
Expanding our programs and deepening our relationships with students
Students attending the Canva YMG bootcamp where they're learning how to use social media for news.
By Brie Zeltner
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Hiyan Daniels didn’t have any journalism experience when they joined YMG’s journalism boot camp last summer. Since then, the sophomore from Philadelphia High School for Girls has been published twice by Philadelphia’s NPR affiliate, Billy Penn, and has created nine videos on mental health topics for YMG’s TikTok account.
Hiyan, now in their second feature writing workshop, is writing about access to college prep resources at high schools in their community along with 13 other students from Philadelphia, Miami, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia. They’ve interviewed nonprofit leaders and city officials and surveyed and interviewed dozens of their peers to get their insight into transportation issues, school resources and knowledge of mental health crisis resources.
From the start to the present: How a YMG alum found her path in the world of media
By Hermes Falcon
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Only 20 alumni can say that they saw the beginning of Youthcast Media Group®, but Berri Wilmore, 23, definitely can. Berri was there at the start of YMG, back when we were called Urban Health Media Project, and interned with us in 2018 before she started attending Syracuse University. She wrote an article for USA TODAY on accountable care organizations in December 2017 with YMG founder Jayne O’Donnell, based in part on reporting during a visit to Kaiser Permanente’s DC offices.
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Berri spoke with YMG intern Hermes Falcon about her start at YMG, what she learned while both a student and an intern with the organization and how she applies those lessons to her current position.
Berri Wilmore (courtesy of Wilmore).
December 2023 publication
We're (proudly) training future journalists, doctors, policy experts and more
YMG high school participants Michelle Collins and Shane Gomez speak to attendees of the organization's November fundraising event on what their YMG experience has been like.
By Jayne O'Donnell
Oyewumi Oyeniyi doesn’t want to be a journalist. Despite that, she’s one of Youthcast Media Group’s success stories.
She’s been published in USA TODAY and the Philadelphia public radio site, Billy Penn, and wowed attendees with her insightful questions when she covered one of our grantors’ national conferences. She’s also Philly’s new Youth Poet Laureate.
On Friday December 15, she was accepted to Harvard University through its highly competitive restrictive early action program (applicants can’t apply elsewhere, and only 7.5% were accepted through this program last year). I wrote her a glowing letter of recommendation and a longtime connection who attended Harvard for undergrad and medical school helped her prepare for the admissions interview.
Reflecting on a merry and bright - and successful! - 2023
Eleven students participated in our Fall 2023 Workshop on transportation and health, from Philadelphia, Illinois, Michigan, Miami, New Jersey and the DC area,
By Brie Zeltner
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Happy Holidays, friends of Youthcast Media Group!
We’re busy with work on a number of fronts this month – finishing our successful third trimester of collaboration with students in the well-established journalism program at Annandale High School in Virginia, and our first classroom collaboration with Bard High School Early College in D.C., where students are brand new to journalism. Students at Annandale and Bard are working on stories about a wide variety of health equity issues, including the mental health and educational impacts on teens with justice involvement who attend alternative schools, the mental health impacts of technology and social media and the undercounting of youth homelessness and the “precariously housed.”
Empower, advocate, conquer: The journey of Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez
Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez celebrating at the end of the Spartan race finish line after months of training.
By Madeline Hartley
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Many journalists say that they “found their people” when they first entered a newsroom or worked with other reporters – whether in high school, college or beyond. Youthcast Media Group Board Chair Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez says she found her people “in the trenches” of the public defender’s office in D.C, where she’s been practicing for 30 years.
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It was the similarity in the missions of her office and YMG’s that drew her to join the board as founding chair in 2019, she says. Like many of the people she defends in court, young people of color in under-resourced communities often battle against circumstances beyond their control that make it exponentially more difficult to succeed, she says.
“They don't think that their voice matters. Being in a position to sort of inspire young people and tell them that… they can make that change and helping them to see that, realize that and actually bring that to fruition is what motivates me,” she says.
October 2023 publication
YMG alums find success in their careers, change their communities
YMG alumna Erin Burnett co-authored this story, which ran in USA Today, in 2018.
By Jayne O'Donnell
After four (!) decades in journalism, I know well the power of the personal story. My July 6, 1996 USA TODAY front page story showed rows of children’s smiling faces before “deadly air bags” ended their lives. That article and others I did with a colleague led to the safer air bags and warning labels now in every new car. Here at YMG, we have a lot of good news to tell you about our next generation of changemakers. But I acknowledge we haven’t told students’ stories enough to make the case for YMG - as college preparers, career trainers, voice uplifters and, yes, donation recipients.
YMG staff, interns grow with the organization
YMG intern Hermes Falcon speaks on a panel on 988 hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) held at Harris Stowe University.
By Brie Zeltner
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YMG Intern Hermes Falcon, a junior at Bradley University, spoke on a prestigious panel last month at Harris Stowe University in Missouri at the invitation of federal officials with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The panel was part of SAMHSA’s 988 One-Year Anniversary Roadshow, about the impact of the mental health crisis hotline 988 on youth across the country.
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YMG staffer Kyndall Hubbard, who joined the organization in January as an editorial assistant, was promoted to Assistant Editor this month.
Syracuse University sophomore Kymani Hughes, who was a summer writing intern with YMG this year, will continue her internship this fall.
June 2023 publication
​Setting students, junior staff up for success requires flexible funding
Kathryn Essig leads a college prep training session for YMG students during a video shoot.
By Jayne O'Donnell
When my 23-year-old daughter moved to a new school for 8th grade, her history teacher quickly recognized she likely had attention deficit disorder (ADD). That helped her get in-school help from a learning specialist and us to get recommendations for outside neuropsychological testing and executive function tutoring.
It changed her life.
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Now, our virtual organization’s college interns and junior staff are getting the professional version of that tutoring, with the same specialist who put my child on her well-organized path a decade ago. Kathryn Essig of Northern Virginia-based Essig Education Group is helping set these young people up for success with the prioritization and organization skills they need for YMG, future jobs and college.
YMG students love learning journalism– even in the summer!
YMG staff Jayne O'Donnell (CEO and founder), Kyndall Hubbard (Editorial Assistant) and Courtney Curtis (Media Intern) at Banneker High School with the newspaper club.
By Brie Zeltner
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Summer is officially underway, and we’re busier than ever at YMG. You may think that teenagers just want to turn off their brains after a busy school year, but we’re working with two dozen who just want to keep going, learning and discovering more about journalism and their communities.
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This week marks the end of our third “Journalism 101” Introduction to News Writing boot camps, and we’ve been working with students in Philadelphia, Hartford, Connecticut, D.C. and Baltimore as they write news briefs about how the 988 hotline and climate change are impacting their communities, and youth in particular. Our Philadelphia team, with five students from three different high schools (two new to our programs!) are out and about, as I write this, interviewing their peers about 988, the mental health alternative to 911, and whether they would be comfortable using it.
Meet our high school participants-turned-summer-interns!
Headshot of Kymani Hughes (courtesy of Kymani).
By Hermes Falcon
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Youthcast Media Group® welcomes back Kymani Hughes and Courtney Curtis, former students at YMG who participated in our training and wrote articles during and after high school before joining our staff this summer. Kymani is a rising sophomore at Syracuse University with a major in applied data analytics, and is working as a print intern on health-related articles, while creating TikToks and contributing to YMG’s other social media.
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Courtney is a 2021 graduate of Bard High School Early College DC where she left with an Associates of Arts degree and high school diploma simultaneously. Courtney is YMG’s new social media intern, and will be working on a diverse set of tasks ranging from graphics to photography and video production.
Kymani (pronounced key-mah-knee) and Courtney sat down with YMG intern Hermes Falcon and spoke about themselves, their interest in journalism and what led them to YMG.
March 2023 publication
Graphics, social media as a gateway to college and career? It’s 🔥
By Jayne O'Donnell
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While other teens were traveling or catching up on sleep, Carnellia “Celine” Daniels spent her February break with YMG and me learning to use graphics to create factual, engaging posts for social media including TikTok — yes, TikTok — and Instagram.
The Hartford, Connecticut high school sophomore and several of her classmates were also learning about affordable housing, criminal justice and mental illness as they mastered grammatical captions, pithy pull quotes and the best visuals to draw attention to their posts.
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If you’re one of those who scoff at social media, I assure you your cynicism is misplaced here. Whether or not TikTok survives all the real and threatened U.S. bans, the writing (yes, writing!), design and analytical skills we’re teaching teens will live on long after the platform’s successor (or the one after that).
Carnellia "Celine" Daniels and her classmates at Weaver High School in Hartford worked with YMG to make interactive and engaging social media posts.
Graphics, social media as a gateway to college and career? It’s 🔥
Jayne O'Donnell visits ReadyCT students.
By Brie Zeltner
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Spring is a time of growth and change, and as an avid gardener, it’s my favorite time of year. While there’s still a month or more before us northern Ohio folks can get out and start planting (sigh!), there’s plenty to keep me busy– and excited!-- at YMG.
We wrapped up a successful fall workshop with two outstanding solutions-based stories about how communities are closing the racial wealth gap. The first, about efforts in Philadelphia, was published in Billy Penn in February. Shortly after it came out, the non-profit featured, birdSEED, told us that they’d received applicants for their down payment assistance grants who heard about the program from our students’ story. Amazing.
​Meet Kyndall Hubbard, Mizzou alum, filmmaker, and YMG’s new Editorial Assistant!
By Hermes Falcon
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Kyndall Hubbard, 23, joined the Youthcast Media Group® team at the end of February as our Editorial Assistant, reporting to Brie Zeltner on the Content & Programs team. A recent grad of the journalism program at University of Missouri (Mizzou) with an emphasis on documentary filmmaking and a double minor in Spanish and Black Studies, she will be writing stories, shooting video and helping work with our high school student writers.
Kyndall (pronounced Ken-dall), spoke with YMG Intern Hermes Falcon about her interests and background as well as her hopes and plans for the future. Their conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Headshot of Kyndall Hubbard (courtesy of Hubbard).