Neighborhood Voices

Bethlehem, PA, 2000

WDIY, increasingly aware of the underreporting of youth substance abuse in its community, produced a series called Neighborhood Voices. Its goals were to create greater awareness among adult WDIY listeners of the Lehigh Valley's youth substance abuse problem and the available sources of help, and to increase community involvement in innovative ways to address the issue. ALERT Partnership, a community coalition whose mission is prevention of substance abuse, acted as a liaison with community groups.

WDIY teamed youth reporters and producers active in its internship program, the Youth Media Project, with teens and adults who are working to create safe and healthy neighborhoods at the grass-roots level across the Lehigh Valley. Teams then produced news features that aired during local broadcasts of Morning Edition. Youth reporters also spoke one-on-one with their peers, by facilitating a discussion of nearly 100 students from SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) on the role of media as a preventive tool.

In this project, the partnership utilized a public health model. Rather than focusing on the agent, drugs or alcohol (as in the law
enforcement approach), or the host, the individual involved in substance abuse (as in the medical model), the public health model considers the agent, the host, and the environment. Neighborhood
Voices reached its goal of informing listeners about opportunities to engage in activities that reduce youth substance abuse and strengthen neighborhoods.

Contact Information

WDIY-FM
Mary Franzo, Youth Media Project Director
Tel: 610-694-8100 x 5

ALERT Partnership—Lehigh Valley Hospital
Michael Adams, Program Director/Community Organizing
Tel: 610-402-2583