Young D.C.
Young D.C. was an independent, metropolitan area newspaper written by and about Washington, D.C. area teens. History. Founding Young D.C.. Launched in 1991, Young D.C. (YDC) has its roots in the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial study Captive Voices: the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into High School Journalism (1974). Vigilance, it said, on the part of educators and established media was essential to ensure young people’s understanding of their Constitutional rights. Equally important, those educators and members of the media needed to commit to inclusion of minorities in journalism education programs. Commissioner Ann Therese Heintz and  RFK fellow Craig Trygstad became leaders of Youth Communication, a youth journalism movement. Joining them was George Curry, the journalist who originated minority student journalism workshops in 1977. Youth Communication grew to a network of ten independent teen-produced newspapers (including Young D.C.) and the 13-bureau Youth News Service. All the newspapers associated with Youth Communication lost financial ground during the recession of the early 1990s. Four did not survive. By the end of the recession, Youth News Service suspended activities. Surviving programs elected to give up the common, national identity. Death by Cheeseburger. In 1994, The Freedom Forum  produced Death by Cheeseburger: High School Journalism in the 1990s and Beyond. It explored best and worst practices in scholastic and independent youth-produced newspapers. The study said, “Around the country, independent youth newspapers are a strong presence, including New Expression in Chicago, Young D.C. in Washington, D.C., VOX in Atlanta and NYC (New Youth Connection) in New York City.” Because four of YDC teens were research and editorial assistants for this Freedom Forum project, it was a high point for the program and the newspaper. A nadir followed. Trygstad accepted an offer to teach overseas. Economic pressures forced three  years of retrenching. Stalwart supporters (The Freedom Forum, the Bureau of National Affairs, National Press Club and the Children’s Charities Foundation) helped YDC through this first bout with hard times. As widely reported, the aftermath of September 11, 2001, included reduced funding for many nonprofit organizations. The new millennium delivered a new recession, but YDC management knew how to cope. Budgets were balanced. Teen participation was stable. The Future of the First Amendment. The next big study came in 2005. The Future of the First Amendment: What America’s High School Students Think about Their Freedoms, a report by  the University of Connecticut’s Public Policy and the Center for Survey Research & Analysis funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was a two-year, $1 million study that delivered sobering news: This study is cited because Young D.C. has been vigilant as Captive Voices charged. It never abandoned the sound practices described in Death by Cheeseburger. Young D.C. is connected to an optimistic finding in The Future of the First Amendment: youth who care about journalism find a way to practice it. Across the board — urban, suburban, rural — seven percent of teens found ways to  gain experience in journalism when their schools had meager or no opportunities for learning about the free press through hands-on education. In the metropolitan D.C. area few public high schools have a publishing schedule as rigorous as the YDC schedule. Statistically, in the metropolitan area, more than 10,000 teens should be taking advantage of journalism education. Much fewer are doing so. Current events. The Al Neuharth Free Spirit Scholarship program selected co-editor of entertainment Asha Johnson and sports editor Hojung Lee as, respectively, D.C. and Maryland Free Spirit Scholars of 2010. Pre-2010, there were two scholars per state  and D.C., one boy and one girl. Past YDC staffers who were Free Spirit scholars include Mohammad Diallo (D.C., boy), reporter, 2008-2009; David Iscoe (D.C., boy), managing editor, volume 14 (2004-2005), reporter and editor 2001-2004; Eric Shansby (Md., boy), cartoonist, 2001-2003; Christine Stoddard (Va., girl), reporter, 2006-2008.