Let’s keep it real—our kids are being raised in a world dominated by media, yet less than 15% of public schools offer formal media education, and the percentage is even lower in Black and low-income communities. Meanwhile, our youth consume up to 7.5 hours of media per day, much of it created without them—or worse, about them, but not by them.
And when Black kids aren’t given the tools to tell their own stories, guess what happens? Others tell it for them—often wrong, often biased, and often damaging.
That’s why African American News & Issues didn’t wait on school districts, grants, or permission. We launched the Junior Journalist Program—a free summer internship that gave Houston youth the power to write, record, photograph, and report their truth. Because we know the power of the pen—and we know how dangerous it is when we don’t control it.
Our newspaper has spent decades covering stories mainstream media ignores. We’ve reported from inside the community—not from a helicopter, but from the heart. And now, we’re passing that torch to the next generation.
This isn’t just about media. This is about literacy, leadership, and legacy.
When our youth learn media skills,
they learn how to think critically. They
learn to research, to question, to speak
up. That’s not just education—that’s
