Join Our Youth Engagement Network
Open to all educators, activists and caring adults who work with young people
Here at the Center for Scholars & Storytellers (CSS) at UCLA, we are committed to amplifying adolescent voices (ages 10-24) in media, ensuring their unique perspectives, desires, and needs are not only heard but prioritized. To truly reflect the diversity of today’s adolescents, we are creating a new “Youth Engagement Network” to give more adolescents a chance to participate in our work.
The Youth Engagement Network will be a database of partners affiliated with schools, youth organizations, identity-based nonprofits that work with youth, or other youth-facing organizations from across all 50 states. Members of this network might include teachers, administrators, activists, parents, and anyone else who might be interested in connecting young people in their life to opportunities to share their perspectives on media, representation, and mental health.
What are the benefits of joining?
The biggest benefit of joining is that you will be given opportunities for young people you work with to have their unique thoughts, perspectives, and experiences shared with researchers and entertainment industry professionals. We believe that young people deserve a seat at the table when it comes to the content being made for and about them. By joining CSS’s Youth Engagement Network, you can play a critical role in empowering the voices of young people you work with to be heard in these spaces.
Are there any risks or costs?
There is no cost associated with joining CSS’s Youth Engagement Network. There is also very minimal time commitment, as we would only ask you to serve as a contact person to outreach to young people you work with as opportunities become available. As an organization whose mission is to serve the interests of adolescents and which is subject to Institutional Review Board oversight, it’s also worth noting that we have robust practices in place to protect and fairly compensate any adolescents we work with.
What types of opportunities are there?
We will work with our Youth Engagement Network to find young people interested in participating in paid focus groups, interviews, and other opportunities at the intersection of research, entertainment, youth wellbeing and mental health and representation. Topics of discussion could include:
How various youth demographics are represented on screen (i.e. foster youth, youth of color, unhoused youth, LGBTQ+ youth, etc.)
What types of media different young people are watching, and what they want to see more/less of
How entertainment young people consume is affecting their mental health and views of the world
and more!
Partners in our Youth Engagement Network will also be alerted to when applications for our Youth Media Representation program open (this program teaches high school students how to conduct their own research on media topics and how to work with entertainment industry professionals to give feedback on real scripts, etc.).
How do I sign up?
Simply fill out the form below, or reach out to Matt Puretz at matt@scholarsandstorytellers.com.