YES+Philly

Jessica Rodgers Field Experience in Youth Media and Media Literacy Reflection #2: Local youth media program: YES Philly February 2nd, 2012

YES Philly is a youth empowerment service that was created in June 1999 to help kids that have dropped out of school in the Philadelphia school district. YES Philly has many different programs to get kids interested in learning and higher education. Their biggest project is Blueprint for Out of School Youth, a program that created a larger focus on the youth dropping out of school and not getting any form of education. The program spread the word to different communities and other groups in Philadelphia on how important it is to finish school and that those who didn’t are not pushed away or forgotten in society. With the Blueprint project more people found out about YES Philly and all the great programs and classes they had to offer to people in need. The programs at YES Philly are GED and literacy skill development combined with counseling and educational enrichment activities, transitioned from the Youth Opportunity Initiative, GED to College or G2C, and a newly remodeled Digital Media Training program that includes media art training, video production, and special design literacy classes. Each of the programs offers different aspects of literacy, mathematics and technology skills. YES Philly and their supporters are doing all of this and more to help the youth learn in new and better ways, to help them get a greater understanding for the need for education and how important it is to get their GED so they can better their education, career, and their lives.

After reading through YES Philly’s website it seems like such a great organization to have, not just in Philadelphia but the concept to help the youth get back on track and make a better life for themselves is something that should be done all over. This concept helps make the future brighter for the people they are helping personally and the people they could end up helping in the future. The only question I have after reading everything is why they don’t have more places like YES Philly? If more people heard about this great organization and the work they are doing I think it could change even more lives.

All of the different programs in YES Philly were interesting to me and took learning to different levels, but the one that really stood out was the Digital Media Training. The main point to the program was using different forms of media with everyday forms of literacy. This is like a workshop I got to do with my multimedia class from Middle Bucks Institute of Technology. We went to a nearby middle school and got to spend the day with the schools media class. The students talked to us about what they did in the school and how it affected their learning. After talking to the students we got to put our different skills to use and make a PSA, public service announcement, together that would be shown on their school news program later in the year.

If more groups or new organizations could be made that are like YES Philly or my media class so many things could change for the better, more people could be helped to have a better life, to stay in school, get jobs, and learning can become more interactive and enjoyable for everyone.