"Youth Voices" photo
Photo credit: "Voice of San Diego" photographer Jessica Horton, used by permission.
News and Updates
Library to Launch “Youth Voices” Program to Preserve Stories of Barrio Logan and Logan Heights (PDF:115K) -
The Library, in conjunction with the Media Arts Center of San Diego’s Teen Producers Project, is set to launch a new program to document and preserve local stories in the Barrio Logan and Logan Heights neighborhoods of San Diego.
Entitled “Youth Voices,” the one-year digital storytelling project will help sustain, support, celebrate and maintain community identity and pride in an area that is widely regarded as a spiritual center for Latino civic engagement. Read the full press release in English (PDF:115K).
[En Español (PDF:118K)]
“The Library is excited and proud to offer a program that will benefit San Diego by exploring
and documenting its rich cultural identity,” said City Library Director Anna Tatár. “‘Youth
Voices’ will bring generations together for a positive and educational experience.”
Young people who live in Barrio Logan are working with local media artists and librarians at the Central Library to
research and produce a series of 8 to 10 minute videos that focus on issues that
the local social service agency MAAC Project has recognized as necessary for communities’ self-sufficiency including: public health, education, history, leadership, employment and
housing.
The videos will give voice to featured participants while providing instructive models
for leadership, community building, and civic engagement. Youth documentation of residents’ life histories strengthens communities by re-building intergenerational ties, training future
leaders, preserving life stories, and offering a model to help other communities’ maintain their
cultural survival.
Through community media, young people develop strong roots. Youth also gain in self esteem as
project leaders, connecting their communities’ past to their own future, an outcome we learned
from our focus group discussions with youth who participated in similar projects.
The Project
The project
includes:
• Community-based digital storytelling workshops
• Digital storytelling station housed in library
• Library-based digital storytelling workshops and lab time
• Community-based, half-day workshops
• Staff development workshops
• Community screenings of the videos.
Sponsors
Co-sponsoring the project with the San Diego Public Library are the MAAC Project, High Tech High School, Barrio Logan College
Institute, Memorial Academy Charter School and National Latino Research Center. Funding for
the project comes from a California State Library grant through the Library Services and
Technology Act.
The Media Arts Center San Diego produces the annual San Diego Latino Film Festival.
For more information about "Youth Voices," use this Web site, or call the Central Library at 619-236-5800.
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