http://www.harlemlive.org/

Launched in 1996 by former New York City public school teacher Richard Calton, HarlemLive (HL) is an online newspaper "created, edited and produced by teens of NYC." In the words of the website producers, its mission is

"to empower a diverse group of youth towards leadership using experience and exposure to media and technology . . . HarlemLive teens learn by doing: They research their own articles, interview sources, photograph news events, and interact daily with their community. Through an ongoing "dialogue" with Harlem, they encourage accountability in their schools, political districts and neighborhoods. In the process, they develop specific skills including desktop publishing, database management, digital camera technology, electronic messaging, web design and mass communications."

HL is notable for the community spirit that infuses its writing, and because it enables participants to come to terms with many of the social, political, racial, and cultural issues that affect their lives. Content includes news articles, interviews, opinion pieces, personal essays, poetry, photography and video documentaries. Because young people choose the topics and write the articles, HarlemLive addresses issues that young people have passion for or that affect young people directly. Adult advisors -- the project enjoys the mentoring support of adult journalism professionals from The New York Times, Black Entertainment Television, ABC News, and Time Magazine, as well as Masters Degree journalism candidates from Columbia University -- guide with a light hand.

The site's visually stimulating front page, redesigned numerous times over the past two years, reflects the professional support it receives. It links to youth-written articles on community, arts and culture, writing arts, a photo gallery, "She Thang" (for young women), life in the city, and international topics. Front and center in the homepage are links to "Education" and "Politics." The "Education" section included, as of February 2004, youth-written articles on budget cuts, choosing a career path, and a visit by HarlemLive participants to the Newhouse School of Communication at Syracuse University. It also provides an archive of earlier articles, including "Excellent Schools in Harlem."

The "Politics" section, although featured on the front page, is disappointingly limited -- it links to a photo gallery of New York City's elected officials, with links to their individual homepages. Much more extensive, and youth-written, content on civic themes can be found in the "Community" section, although there, as in the above-cited sections, many of the articles are not current. A relatively new video section presents short videos by youth on topics ranging from Valentine's Day, to a ban on cell phones in schools, to South African Youth Day.

The website notes that "students who participate in HarlemLive may not become journalists ultimately, yet because they are constantly unraveling complex issues of the day, they gain skills that are transferable into many arenas." Many of the skills in question are civic skills. As a youth-directed enterprise that explores, questions, analyzes and celebrates its community, speaking directly to youth and letting youth speak for themselves, HarlemLive is a model enterprise.

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