Overview
HarlemLive is award winning, critically acclaimed web magazine
produced by teens from throughout New York City. It is a journalism,
technology and leadership program that teaches students ages
13 to 21 how to run an online newspaper. The publication, "HarlemLive" (www.harlemlive.org), includes news articles, investigative
stories, opinion pieces, personal essays, poetry, photography
and video documentaries. The students organize events, conduct
workshops and sit on panels, increasing their networking and
public speaking abilities. The program is located on 123rd Street
in Manhattan, the heart of Harlem's commercial district.
Teenagers run every aspect of the publication and tv show. They are assigned
positions such as editor-in-chief, managing editor, photo editor,
reporters, layout designers, Vediot editors, administrators and technicians.
Adult mentors, including journalism professionals from The New
York Times, Black Entertainment Television, ABC News, VIBE magazine,
Time Magazine, and Bloomberg News guide them through the process.
A partnership with Columbia University's Graduate School of
Journalism allows HarlemLive students to work one-on-one with
Masters Degree journalism candidates as well.
HarlemLive teens learn by doing: They research their own articles,
interview sources, photograph news events, and interact daily
with their community. Through an ongoing "dialogue'' with
Harlem, they encourage accountability in their schools, political
districts and neighborhoods. In the process, they develop specific
skills including desktop publishing, database management, digital
camera technology, electronic messaging, web design and mass
communications.
The students who participate in HarlemLive may not become journalists
ultimately, yet because they are constantly unraveling complex
issues of the day, they gain skills that are transferable into
many arenas.
The results of the program have already been remarkable with over 90 percent of the year or more participants going on to further their education and 100% of the graduates are employed. The students are being accepted to the likes of Yale, Oxford, Columbia, Cornell and others. The program continues to be written about and to be featured
in broadcasts by media outlets around the globe.
Background
HarlemLive, a nonprofit 501c3 organization, was created in 1996
by a former New York City public school teacher, Richard Calton.
He was responding to a need: With dwindling funding for high
school newspapers, fewer teenagers in low-income neighborhoods
were being exposed to journalism at an age when they might become
interested and motivated to consider communications a career
goal.
The first students to join HarlemLive came from a few junior
high schools. Today, there are more than 60 students enrolled
in the program, hailing from over 30 schools throughout the
five boroughs of New York. For three of its six years, HarlemLive
was based in an office on 111th Street and 5th Avenue in East
Harlem, sharing space in a computer center called Playing To
Win, and before that, in a basement office at Teachers College,
Columbia University. |
