Youth Media Council

Youth Media Council (YMC) "was founded in 2001 as a two-year pilot project at We Interrupt This Message (Interrupt). A media strategy center for the racial justice movement since the early 90s, Interrupt founded the YMC to increase the media strategy and capacity of the youth organizing sector. YMC built upon Interrupt's racial justice communications framework and strong partnerships with racial and economic justice groups. Under the leadership of veteran media strategists Hunter Cutting and Kim Deterline, Interrupt pioneered methods for media capacity building, strategic communications and media watchdog projects uniquely tailored to disenfranchised communities...

"YMC has been awarded by Rock the Vote, MediaRights.org and the Alliance for Community Media, and helped to build national networks such as the Media & Democracy Coalition, Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net), the Media Justice Network, the Progressive Communicators Network (PCN), and the Katrina Information Network (KIN).

Funders
The YMC is supported by:
 * Open Society Institute
 * Surdna Foundation
 * Community Technology Foundation of California
 * Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
 * Libra Foundation
 * Overbrook Foundation
 * San Francisco Foundation
 * Frances Fund of the Solidago Foundation
 * Akonadi Foundation
 * Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
 * Quixote Foundation
 * Funding Exchange/The Media Justice Fund
 * Victor & Lorraine Honig Fund of the Common Counsel Foundation
 * Next Fund of the San Francisco Foundation

Directors
Accessed January 2008.


 * Xochitl Bervera - Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
 * Jeff Chang - Freelance Journalist
 * Lori Dorfman - Berkeley Media Studies Group
 * Makani Themba-Nixon - The Praxis Project
 * Martha Wallner - Media and Democracy Coalition
 * Nicole Lee - Ella Baker Center
 * Lisa Russ - Movement Strategy Center

Staff
Accessed January 2008.


 * Malkia Cyril - Director
 * Jen Soriano - Associate Director of Programs
 * Karlos Gauna Schmieder - Media Strategist
 * Samhita Mukhopadhyay - Si Se Puede Training and Technology Coordinator
 * Michele Gutierrez - Grassroots Media Activism Coordinator
 * Maria Cristina Rangel - Development & Promotions Manager
 * Rashida Jivraj - Operations and Finance Manager
 * Oshen Turman - Executive Assistant

Contact

 * Web: http://youthmediacouncil.org