Youthtopia: Youth Media Initiative

Santa Cruz, CA, 2004

Santa Cruz County has been battling the issues of teen pregnancy and drug abuse for several decades with some success, but there are still profound health issues facing the most vulnerable teens in the region. Homelessness, drug addiction, binge drinking and domestic abuse are some of the problems young people face. A further complication is that many at-risk teens lack access to information and services that would help them deal with these issues.

KUSP-FM partnered with Population Services International (PSI), a non-profit organization whose mission is to use social marketing to deliver health products, services and information to low-income families and other disadvantaged and vulnerable persons, and with Community TV of Santa Cruz.

Through a monthly live teen radio and television show, Youthtopia, KUSP educated the community about the problems teens face, as well as the solutions and resources that are available in the community. KUSP produced ten live call-in news magazine shows containing produced features, and two live public forums to engage the community around teen issues. Teens hosted and produced the shows, as well as moderated the forums. The social marketing expertise of PSI helped the project reach the target audience of at-risk teens.

PSI extended their outreach to Latino teens in Watsonville and offered support to those who wanted to learn about radio journalism, paying particular attention to the teens most in need of services. PSI provided a satellite editing station and field recorders at their site to further increase access to project. Additional help came from radio teachers at the University of California Santa Cruz campus station, KZSC, who helped train students in reporting and editing. Student work submitted for radio also appeared in print articles for PSI's teen newspaper, ShoutOut.

Awards:

KUSP Round Four

$3,000 for Youthtopia teen producers to attend Third Coast Festival
—from Third Coast Festival

$10,000 bridge grant
— Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County

KUSP Round Three

$10,000 to continue Youthtopia programming and expand outreach to south Santa Cruz County
—from Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County

$800 for youth to attend March, 2004 Youth Conference
—from anonymous donors

$2,500 for program continuation with a focus on reproductive health
—from West Marine of Watsonville, CA