11/30 Youth Collaborative

Erika Kitzmiller — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 14:41:47 +0000

Project Update

Our project began as a journalism website and has evolved into a youth-driven first-person storytelling project that showcases the voices and stories of individuals who call Chambersburg, a small town in Central Pennsylvania home. Our project aims to present a fuller picture of the community for the community. You can access the site here: https://1130youthcollaborative.org

We support the development of first-person narratives, particularly among young, marginalized individuals who are rarely heard or seen in the mainstream media and to bring people together to listen to and learn from the wide array of stories that Chambersburg residents tell themselves.

This is the problem the project seeks to address:

11/30 Youth offers these story collections to community partners as op-eds and testimonials to further social justice work in the community.

We have published two volumes of work: one on racial justice and one on LGBTQ+ advocacy and experiences.

To do this work, we have created an incredible team of youth, creators, and educators all of whom have ties to rural Pennsylvania.

You can learn more about each of us here: https://1130youthcollaborative.org/about/

Progress on objectives

As we stated before, our project started as a journalism project but after deep consideration of the community's needs, we evolved into a first-person, youth-driven site.

We have published a variety of pieces: poems about racial inequity, interviews about racial justice advocacy, first-person narratives about growing up as a nonwhite youth in a majority-white community, and films documenting LGBTQ+ lives and advocacy. We have also incorporated book reviews that feature Appalachian authors who have written about the themes and ideas in our work.

This is an overview of our journey:

Key activities

This winter, we published a collection written by and for youth on race and racism in Franklin County. Madison Mellinger and LeShan Wilkinson, the collaborative's youth directors, wrote the introduction to the collection:

In the summer of 2020, national media recognized a few things we have known all along about Franklin County: the population is not entirely white, racism exists here, and grassroots organizations are beginning to mobilize our citizens to fight for racial justice. While the county’s rural agricultural roots and location in the Appalachian Mountains has led many to believe the area is a white, Republican, Christian monolith, we present a different perspective. In our high school classes, on our sports teams, in our clubs, and even within our own families we know people whose lives defy the stereotypes others perpetuate about rural communities. In this first collection from the 11/30 Youth Collaborative, we present stories written by a few of those people who stand out in our minds. We aim to showcase the diverse range of narratives that exist in Chambersburg, focusing specifically on racial diversity and the local fight for racial justice. We encourage you to get to know each of our contributors through their works, deeply consider their messages, and continuously reflect on your own position in the Chambersburg community. Most of all, we encourage you to act. To learn more about how to get involved with the local fight for racial justice, please consider Racial Reconciliation Franklin County, PA.

You can read the collection here: https://1130youthcollaborative.org/summer-2021-collection-race-and-racism/

This past summer, we published another collection, Franklin County Pride. Madison and Erika Kitzmiller, a collaborative advisor, wrote the introduction to the collection:

When many people think of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, they envision parades and festivals in major metropolitan areas with thousands of community members and allies clad in rainbow attire dancing and celebrating in the streets. However, in small, rural communities with less extravagant events, the LGBTQ+ community is still present and proud. In this collection, we explore what Pride looks and feels like for those who live in Franklin County, with a particular focus on the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth in our community. In both of these instances, we emphasize the importance of allyship in rural spaces. We also expand our lens to Appalachia as a whole, considering the perspectives of LGBTQ+ people across the region.

We encourage you to get to know each of our contributors through their works, deeply consider their messages, and continuously reflect on your own position in the Chambersburg community. Most of all, we encourage you to act. To learn more about how to get involved with local efforts to fight for and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, please consider Pride Franklin County.

You can read the collection (which is still in progress) here:
https://1130youthcollaborative.org/summer-2022-franklin-county-pride/

Communications and marketing

We have discussed our work with local residents, our advisory board members, and most recently, in a Grant for Web Community Call.

Listen to the clip here: https://twitter.com/GrantForTheWeb/status/1540069914635128832?s=20&t=1Lv67ya640Wd4lvtHdUjOA

In addition, Madison Mellinger and LeShan Wilkinson, our youth directors, were finalists in Glen Nelson Center's Next Challenge. An incredible feat for our young project and a testament to their brilliance!

What’s next?

We have two more collections planned, one this fall on Pennsylvania politics and advocacy and another on intergenerational dialogue and learning.

Beyond these collections, we have created and established a process for generating and publishing youth-driven work in rural America. As educators and youth committed to social justice and equity in rural America, we are eager to think more deeply about this moving forward in this community and beyond. This is the process to date.

We are eager to think more deeply about this process and to find collaborators across the state and Appalachia who are interested in partnering with us in this work.

What community support would benefit your project?

We would love to hear any suggestions the community might have for the project, partners we might reach out to, and ideas for increasing readership and creative output. We are so grateful for these funds and so proud of the work we have started--we are eager to work with others to scale this work with more youth and educators in rural Pennsylvania and beyond.

An Oasis in a News Desert — Central Pa Collaborative

Steve Goss — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 04:15:07 +0000

Project Overview

As newsrooms across America continue to shed employees, many small towns have become news deserts. We seek to address this problem through a website dedicated to expanding resident-driven profiles and narratives that aim to increase the representative and visibility of communities of color and low-income residents.

Project Team

Erika Kitzmiller

Barnard College

Letrell Crittenden

Thomas Jefferson University

Steven Goss

Manhattan College

What we are doing

To date, we have created a website where visitors can read original articles on the community residing in and around Central Pennsylvania. We publish articles weekly and have established submission guidelines for future articles. The website features profiles, which are written by journalists in the area and highlight progressive, diverse thinkers who live and work in Chambersburg Pennsylvania, and first-person narratives, which are written by individuals who live in the area on a topic of their choice. We have highlighted the lives of Lance Walker, a Black barber and school board member; Matt Fogal, a former Republican district attorney who publicly has supported Black Lives Matter; Phillip Whitley, an openly gay man and photographer, and Amer Chaudry, a Muslim business owner and resident who is running for public office. In addition, we have shared first-person narratives from Patty Dolaway, a progressive political organizer and three individuals who describe their lives under COVID-19, Kim Amsley-Camp, a certified nurse midwife; Jennifer Morris, a mother of four including a child with special needs, and Melinda M. Schwenk-Borrell, who drives a medical transport van in the community.

What community support would benefit your project?

If anyone has suggestions about individuals who live or work in Central Pennsylvania who might be interested in writing a first-person narrative or being featured in our profiles, we would love to hear about that on our submissions page. We are also eager to have you spread the word about our work to other news organizations and interested individuals both in the area and beyond.

Link Round Up!

Coming Together May Be Easier Than You Think
The Risks to Drivers who Care for Franklin County’s Most Vulnerable Medical Patients under COVID-19
Franklin County DA Matt Fogal, on Black Lives Matter and New Rules on Policing
For Kristi Rines, Social Justice Advocacy Is an Everyday Experience
Phillip Whitley: Local Artist and Advocate Lives his Truth, while Showcasing the Lives of Others

The Interledger Community 🌱: Central PA Info Hub

11/30 Youth Collaborative

Project Update

Progress on objectives

Key activities

Communications and marketing

What’s next?

What community support would benefit your project?

An Oasis in a News Desert — Central Pa Collaborative

Project Overview

Project Team

Erika Kitzmiller

Letrell Crittenden

Steven Goss

What we are doing

What community support would benefit your project?

Link Round Up!