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Youth Samples of Civically Engaged Writing and Media Return to Group

  • almost 6 years ago

    1 Comment

    Malala Yousafzai: UN Speech (2013) and Nobel Peace Prize Speech (2014) Information-grey

    Malala Yousafzai UN Speech: Girl Shot in Attack by Taliban Gives Address | The New York Times | July 12, 2013

    Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student who was shot in the head by the Taliban after speaking out for education rights for girls, spoke to the U.N. Youth Assembly on her 16th birthday on Friday.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    1 Comment

    Fight for DACA Information-grey

    Youth_voices

     

    Dear Undocumedia:

    We hope you are striving in your work like always! We are writing to you today because we wanted to bring more awareness to the (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)DACA. We noticed Undocumedia is a non-profit organization that supports DACA. Additionally, on the Instagram page of Undocumedia, it shows a video of Ivan Ceja a co-founder and executive director talking about helping refugees with needed materials. We believe that DACA holds our community stronger, without it, we will lose a lot of strong people holding us in sync.

     
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  • almost 6 years ago

    55 Comments

    Guards Hurt Inmates Information-grey

    Youth_voices

    Dear Superior Court of California-County of Alameda,

    We are choosing to write to you because you are our county and what you do in your prisons affect us. As a court, you do not listen to us and itś not fair. Itś going to end now by you helping us with prison reform for starters. You guys are affecting the world and making your county look bad.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Black Lives Matter Information-grey

    Youth_voices

     

    Dear Alicia Garza:

    We are writing to you, the co-founder of Black Lives Matters because you are a strong woman who because of a Facebook post started a huge movement that has gone down in history and still till this day is inspiring many marches along with protests to stand up for the African American community.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Net Neutrality Information-grey

    Youth_voices

    Dear Reader –

    “Net neutrality is the principle that Internet providers like Comcast & Verizon should not control what we see and do online”(battleforthenet). If net neutrality isn’t passed, we, the internet consumers won’t have the freedom to do what we want on the internet. The internet providers will have the power and the right to give certain people faster internet. There are already many people out there that are protesting against net neutrality when it got issued. As the issue is not solved, we have to continue pushing for net neutrality with protests and letters to congress. Additionally, Fung describes, “As more companies have come to depend on internet access to reach consumers and grow their business, some policy experts say net neutrality is much more than a battle about specific consumer protections. It’s always been about the role that society envisions for internet providers, and who – or what – is empowered to keep those companies accountable, according to Gigi Sohn, who helped craft the 2015 net neutrality rules as an adviser to the-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler”(Fung). When net neutrality laws were created, the whole purpose was to push for more equity between those who use the internet, and shorten the digital divide. But now, with net neutrality laws being pushed back, everything that net neutrality is fighting for is going to dust.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    1 Comment

    Equal Pay Proposal Information-grey

    Youth_voices

    Dear Business Owners:

    Did you know that in most cases, women get paid less than men? For example, for every dollar that a man gets paid, women get paid 79 cents. But, depending on race as well, women get paid even less. Black women earn 60 cents and Hispanic women get paid 55 cents (The Washington Post). We have chosen the topic of equal pay because it is a topic that isn’t really known, but affects many people in the United States, especially women. More specifically, we have chosen to write to YOU all because you control how much your employees get paid, and isn’t unequal pay a little bit, well, unequal? There shouldn’t be differences in pay based on gender, since women endeavor, if not endeavor more than men. Everyone knows that times right now are different, and that viewpoints are finally equalizing, So why not help out and finally end racism and sexism? Equal pay won’t end sexism, but it can for sure help end sexism by not making women seem irrelevant. A target that we have in this fight for equal pay is business owners, since they have the power to change the salaries of their employees. Although business owners can have the most change, people with power can influence business owners, changing their decisions. 

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  • almost 6 years ago

    I Love My Body Information-grey

    Youth_voices

    Dear Middle School Teachers and Students:

    We are choosing to write to the middle school teachers because from experience we know during these years teenagers struggle the most with showing self-love. We believe that if our teachers during these years would speak to us about loving ourselves more we would struggle less with it. The middle school teachers are our allies because they are the people with most power in our lives during those years of middle schoolers. Being aware and building this type of connection with the students can be an area of improvement.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    4 Comments

    Children Are Not For Sale Information-grey

    Youth_voices

    Dear Westcoast Children’s Clinic:

    We chose to write to your organization because we want to help stop child sex trafficking. We know that by doing this we won’t necessarily stop worldwide child trafficking, but we believe that by raising our voices and standing up for the victims we are a drop on the penny of a big topic. We noticed that your organization would be a great ally for us because we are all fighting for the same thing.  

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  • almost 6 years ago

    1 Comment

    March for Our Lives Video Stream and Wikipedia Article Information-grey

    March for Our Lives

    From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Petition to Introduce a Pilot Rap Program at [high school] Information-grey

    Rapschool

    To: Mr. Phil Rydeen, Manager and VIsual and Performing Arts of the Oakland Unified School DIstrict

    Currently, music programs in the OUSD are neglecting many students that are passionate about a music not typically provided, rap. For many students such as ourselves, music is a very important part of our lives. However, many students are missing out on this opportunity simply because our music program does not provide a rap program or class. If these students continue to miss out on the educational benefits, creative opportunities, and outlets for stress that music can bring to their lives, they will continue to fall through the cracks that standard education has neglected to cover up. In addition, students are not provided with many opportunities to create, or think outside the box that a regular school day confines them to. ...

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  • almost 6 years ago

    How My Chinese Grandma Found Her American Dream Information-grey

    Youth_radio

    Image Courtesy Ashley Shen

    Image Courtesy Ashley Shen

    My grandparents opened a restaurant in 1989 in the corner of a small shopping plaza at the center of Madera, California. Since then, my grandma has opened up the lacy curtains to reveal the restaurant’s red interior and simple oriental lanterns every morning with a small smile and wrinkled hands. My mom and her sisters have fond memories of waiting tables, while my grandpa and grandma coaxed hot oil into woks and threw savory spices into the mix.

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  • almost 6 years ago

    I Sued My School for Censorship and Won — Because Being a Lesbian Shouldn’t Violate the Dress Code Information-grey

    Taylor_victor_landscape_small_0

    It all started with a t-shirt.

    I was at the mall, and I saw a shirt I knew I had to buy.

    It said “NOBODY KNOWS I’M A LESBIAN.” It made me laugh because pretty much everybody knows I’m a lesbian.

    I came out a year ago, when I was in tenth grade. My friends at school are great. ...

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Columbus schools auditorium should be a priority Information-grey

    Columbus_high_school

    In a letter to the local newspaper, two Columbus, MT students argue that building a school auditorium should be a priority for the local school district. The writers use coherent and logical reasoning, specifically a cost-benefit analysis, to demonstrate how a new auditorium would benefit the community. To address their principal’s concerns about cost the writers argue, “While it is true that an auditorium is a costly project, we have an idea to cut the cost tremendously. Instead of building an entirely new foundation, we could repurpose a current structure.” They also draw on a community survey to emphasize the project’s...

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Advanced Life Support district needed to help ensure top quality services Information-grey

    Stillwater

    Colson Cowger, a tenth-grader in Columbus, MT, wrote a letter to the editor of the Stillwater County News, advocating for creating an Advanced Life Support District to serve outlying rural communities. His letter set the wheels in motion for a ballot initiative that passed in May 2017. This letter effectively raises awareness about the precarious state of funding for the rural county’s emergency ambulance services and makes a case that taxpayers should have the opportunity to vote on whether to pay for the district with a slight tax increase. “Taxpayers should have the opportunity to vote for the creation of this ambulance district because the ambulance needs funding to pay for the life-saving...

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  • almost 6 years ago

    A Petition To Educate the Community About Oakland's Dropout Rates Information-grey

    920x920

    To: [Superintendent] of all OUSD Schools.

    The issue that we are facing is the rising dropout rates in Oakland Public High Schools. Since the year of 2005, the dropout rate at Oakland Public High Schools has begun to rise. It’s begun to rise so much that within the state of California, Oakland Public High Schools have the highest dropout rate compared to all other California cities. Students have been dropping out of high school for all different kinds of reason, yet through research and surveys we have found that the most prominent reasons why students have been dropping out of high school is because of poverty either within their family or neighborhood, violence, and drugs. Kids who have grown up in poverty usually grow up in bad neighborhoods. This then leads to kids either dropping out of school to support themselves or their family, or them dropping out to join gangs as they...

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Urban Poverty Information-grey

    Philadelphia resident Anthony Rivera addresses both presidential candidates through a spoken word poem, asking them to address the poverty he sees in his community.

    Anthony Rivera, Pennsylvania from Student Reporting Labs on Vimeo.

     

     

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  • almost 6 years ago

    Campus Sexual Assault Needs to Stop Information-grey

    Dear Future President,

    I would first like to congratulate you on your election. Since you are now the president, I have something that I think should be brought to your attention. I believe that in this country we need a stronger focus on campus sexual assault. Punishments for students convicted of sexual assault need to be serious, no matter where this student comes from, or how well off they are. We need to recognize that sexual assault in college is a serious problem.

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