By Jayne O'Donnell Thursday night, March 9, 2017, two groups of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore teenagers gathered at Howard University to celebrate the launch of the Urban Health Media Project, now Youthcast Media Group (YMG), a new community-focused journalism program targeting high school students of color from under-resourced parts of the cities. The youngest were...
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Foster children at high risk for a multitude of mental health problems
By Yesenia Barrios Lisa Cohen had to start over 13 times. As a foster kid she needed to find new friends at each new school at each home where she was placed. One time, after being forced to leave a foster home she loved, she woke up in her new home with cuts in her...
Virtual learning harbors its own gifts
By Tamar Coon Urban Health Media Project Before March of 2020, everything was normal: I was in 8th grade at Columbia Heights Educational Campus. We were reading a book that I loved. Then, my homeroom teacher started talking about a plague, and I heard about a virus and lockdowns happening in China. All of a...
UHMP students gain ‘eye-opening’ experience covering their first conference and new programming is on the horizon for 2022
By Brie Zeltner Three UHMP students racked up a bevy of firsts this December when they traveled to Philadelphia with our staff for the Sozosei Foundation’s Second Annual Summit to Decriminalize Mental Illness. First time covering a conference in person. First time out of state. First time staying alone in a fancy hotel room. First...
From Super Bowls to the Bulls, UHMP board member covered them all but said education is most important
By Aileen Delgado After a 25 year journalism career covering some of sports’ highest-profile events and winning two Emmys, Dyrol Joyner joined Urban Health Media Project’s Board of Directors in December 2020. Joyner, 62, covered Stanley Cup Finals, Super Bowls, and four NBA championships, including three of the Chicago Bulls six championships in the '90s....
From a Harvard psychologist-instructor to Howard Dean, our students are getting well-connected
A Message From Our Co-Founder By Jayne O'Donnell My 35-plus years as a reporter did not make me a great fundraiser. (I’m learning, though!) But I am a good connector and few things make me happier than connecting UHMP students to people who are already succeeding in fields that students hope to enter. Or alumni...
Correctional facilities: The Band-Aid to mental health
By Yesenia Barrios Shawanna Vaughn had no choice. She was born in a prison hospital to an incarcerated mother. She endured a tough childhood, only to land back in prison at 17, and continue the harmful cycle. “Nobody got to prison without adverse childhood experiences which turned into adult traumas,” said Vaughn, founder of Silent...
Social media: A complex challenge for youth and parents to protect mental health
By Yesenia Barrios Using social media– specifically apps like Instagram and Snapchat--requires tricky negotiation for young people to engage socially while avoiding its potentially intense toxic impact. “Their brains are not fully formed, not fully myelinated—they’re more at risk for the addictive aspect of these devices and these apps, and (teens) have less protective factors,”...
Meet Krystal Li: UHMP student journalist and workshop participant
By Aileen Delgado Krystal Li, a senior at Coral Reef High School in Miami, was one of more than 20 students who participated in UHMP’s “Homesick” spring workshop. She says she jumped at the opportunity. It was “a good opportunity for me,’’ she says, “because I was relatively new to journalism at the time, and...
UHMP welcomes new staffers
By Hermes Falcon Urban Health Media Project Two media veterans and three new faces have been added to the expanding UHMP team. In July, Julianne Hill, whose work has appeared in outlets such as NPR, PBS, Chicago Public Radio, and ABA Journal, joined as managing editor of content and programs, and Cynthia Robinson, who has...