In July 2012 the Media Arts Center San Diego, with funding from The California Endowment, hosted a three-day boot camp to train Southern California youth journalists how to effectively tell individual stories within a community context. The boot camp was based on the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) model for its Youth Advocacy Boot Camp held in April 2012 (and annual Producer’s Institute) in San Francisco. Seventeen youth from San Diego, Long Beach, Los Angeles, South Kern and Coachella wrote blogs on issues in their home communities and co-produced radio and video pieces about healthy neighborhoods, school meals and school discipline in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego.

Youth participants were affiliated with BAVC, New America Media, AjA Project, Coachella Unincorporated, Boyle Heights Beat, South Kern Sol, Voicewaves and Venice Arts – with mentors from these organizations as well as Berkeley Studies Media Group, KPBS San Diego, The San Diego Union Tribune, Voices of San Diego and NBC Universal. In addition to learning media production and journalism skills, students gained an understanding of the news cycle and developed important media literacy skills such as how to craft effective pitches for different types of media outlets.

“Green Space,” the video above, was narrated and co-produced by Alejandra Alarcon of Coachella Unincorporated. She worked in conduction with Rico Blevins and mentors Kris Rivera and Jessica Perez of Boyle Heights Beat.