By Aileen Delgado, Courtney Curtis and Rick Hampson Urban Health Media Project WASHINGTON -- Frank Pinckney wonders what his life could have been like if his parents and teachers had believed what he now believes: that as a child he had a learning disability, attention deficit disorder (ADHD) and suffered from trauma after a sexual...
Tag: Upswing
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...
‘If these streets could talk’
Breyanna Dabney, 18, first worked with UHMP in 2020 and reported on the impact of the COVID pandemic on communities of color and created a photo-essay about how the early pandemic allowed opportunities for quiet reflection. She is now in her first year at CCBC Essex in Baltimore and aims to go to pharmacy school....
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...
‘Enough is enough — I am going to die’
Therapy Thursday panelists talk about the multiple obstacles victims face to leave an abusive relationship By Yesenia Barrios From the outside, it looked like Roblyn Lewter had a good marriage with a wonderful man. But for years, what no one knew was that she endured violence by his hands, fearing for her life. Finally, she...
UHMP teaches students to tell the health and social justice stories of the unrepresented
Hermes Falcon Urban Health Media Project Urban Health Media Project introduces middle and high school students in underrepresented communities to journalism and teaches them how to cover health and social issue topics that touch their lives. “I want to be a journalist,” says Sreehitha Gandluri, a student at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School...
Homeless, anxious, depressed and young
But there’s hope and help when home conflicts, mental health struggles lead to homelessness for 500,000-plus youth each year By Julianne Hill, Caitlyn Hutabarat and Amira Horowitz Urban Health Media Project This story was also published in The Afro on November 23, 2021. (Photo: Berri Wilmore) After Jordan DeVega’s grandmother died when he was 16,...
‘Stop it! You’re making me sick!’: Moving documentary spotlights the pivotal battle to declassify homosexuality as illness
By Julianne Hill and Hermes Falcon Urban Health Media Project As recently as 1973, homosexuality was considered a “sexual deviancy” and gay people were classified as mentally ill by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The LGBTQ+ community and its allies have activists such as Barbara Gittings and DC’s own Dr. Frank Kameny to thank for...
Therapy, peer support important for teen mental health post-pandemic
Sierra Lewter Urban Health Media Project Zoom is not the same as Netflix. After a full year of online school, many tech-savvy students are facing burnout from technology. Society’s constant demands for achievement did not stop as a result of the pandemic. If anything, students were expected to work harder and produce more, which led...
LGBTQ myths debunked with science and facts
By Vanessa Falcon, Pamela Rentz and Mary Stapp MYTH: Being gay is a “choice” Americans are evenly split on whether sexual orientation is a choice, or is determined by nature, according to a 2015 Pew Research Center survey, with roughly 40 percent of respondents on either side. But, the percentage of people who believe that...