Last summer, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation invited youth media representatives from across the country to join Foundation staff for a mutual learning experience around how youth media producers can connect with foundations and other groups seeking to involve young people in their social change work. Highlights of that day-and-a-half-long conference, Connect +Shift -> Link: youth media for social change (CSL), have since been compiled into a 20- page report titled, Red is the Sound of My Voice: do we talk to tell the truth or do we speak to be heard?

Excerpts from Red is the Sound of My Voice are featured below. To download the full report, visit the Kellogg Foundation Web site at: www.wkkf.org

Youthful Rebellion as an Avenue for Social Change
A group of participants sat down during CSL to discuss how youthful rebellion can be harnessed or validated as real social change. The group broke “rebellion” down into two basic types: destructive and constructive/productive rebellion. The difference between the two types boils down to moving from just being angry and against something to stating what you are for and then working toward that. This was the first building block the group identified as a way to answer the question. The four steps below are the roots for what this group thought could be a lasting way to harness youthful rebellion, as one of the concerns discussed early on was the “fizzle factor” — people get mad and protest about an issue when it comes to a head, and then the movement dies even if nothing has really changed except that the issue has faded from the public spotlight.

How can rebellion be harnessed or validated as real social change?
Rebellion needs to be nurtured and channeled to constructive ends — challenge young people to answer not just what they’re against, but also what they’re for. The creation of media and other social change work should happen around this pro-concept instead of the typical anti-concept.

Educators and peer mentors need to teach rebellion as a social process; they may have to be trained first.

Allied adults need to trust in the awareness of the age group; constantly work to remember yourself at that age.

Document the process of using rebellion for social change so that it can be repeated and improved by others, and also to give the young people working for change a way to see and measure their impact and keep them fired up.

The Youth/Adult Disconnect
During the conference there was a brief discussion around one particular question: why is it hard for youth and adults to work together sometimes? The young people at the conference offered some of their insights into why they often find it difficult to work with adults. They said they often see a conflict of interest; they feel that they are working for quality of life and justice for people, but see adults around them as caring about business and economic concerns, which they said they are not interested in.

Others took this thought further and ventured that young people listen to their intuitive sense of right and wrong; they do not take into consideration what something might cost in dollars to address if people are hurting or if something is unfair. Many conference attendees said it seems like adults trivialize their views and don’t respect young people.