Millennial Youth Content Services is an initiative started by Andrew Cullen and offers a wire service through which the highest quality editorial content produced by youth for young and adult audiences will be made available for sale to US newspapers. The long-term impact of Millennial Youth Content Services will be a cadre of young readers who are civically engaged partners in a larger community who understand their roles, rights and responsibilities as citizens in a democracy.
At a time when teens are bombarded with information from all kinds of sources, there has been a simultaneous decline in news offerings that meet the needs, interests and capabilities of young readers. Many newspapers have slashed youth sections and studies tell us that current offerings require more background and context than young people have. As newspapers around the country struggle to reach youth audiences, would-be readers turn to the Internet or other electronic formats to get their news.
Millennial Youth Content Services will improve and increase the amount of high quality, youth-produced journalism made available to youth through mainstream media. Millennial Youth journalists are held to the same standards as their adult counterparts. We encourage youth to pursue in-depth, investigative reports that have a national or global focus. Thus far our content has been widely published by US and Canadian newspapers and online media.
The long-term impact will be a cadre of young readers who are civically engaged partners in a larger community who understand their roles, rights and responsibilities as citizens in a democracy. Youth journalists will apply new knowledge and critical thinking skills gained through journalism and news literacy training, plus content production to other contexts both within and outside Millennial Youth, resulting in improved life skills and academic success of a projected 600 young people annually