How to Involve Youth in Sustainability Programs

[Intro]
You may have heard the common phrase “today’s children are tomorrow’s leaders”. It is a concept that is believed by many Alaskan tribes. Rural communities want to focus on engaging youth to become future leaders for our state. It’s one thing for today’s youth to become involved with sustainability programs. It’s even better when they want to apply this experience to their future. University of Alaska Anchorage journalist Lizzy Abellera reports:

[Voicing]
Not many children or young adults typically look at environmental issues. If they do, it’s only because it’s a required assignment they must complete for school. At a young age, youth in our community should start to consider the actions they are making that may impact our environment. These decisions will affect them in the long run and acting now can give them exposure they need to open their eyes. Children and young adults under 17 years of age may receive many benefits if they start becoming involved now. Michelle Davis from the US Environmental Protection Agency expresses how she feels about this:

[Actualities]
Time: 6s
Title: Michelle on teens
“Sustainability programs help teens think about their tribe. They see the bigger picture and will apply these concepts for themselves and their future.”

[Voicing]
If youth activities are promoted now, they will have a likelihood of growing into leaders for Alaskan tribal organizations and communities. There are several local programs running that are good examples of where and how to start. Brenda Trefon, from the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, shares her advice on how she gets youth involved.

[Actualities]
Time: 5s
Title: Brenda asking for help
"Always ask for help and learn from others ... it’s amazing with how much work can be done in one day."

[Voicing]
An important concept to remember is that youth and other community members should re-introduce themselves as environmental workers when becoming involved. Since tribes and rural villages are so small, it's easy for someone to see you as one person. However, when you reintroduce yourself as an environmental worker, you are presenting yourself as someone different representing the community.

Many of these established programs work hand-in-hand together. Charlie Ess who represents the RurALCAP organization, shares his experience of working with youth.

[Actualities]
Time: 3s
Title: Charlie kids find stuff
"Kids just love to find stuff and they love to be involved.”

[Voicing]
Charlie talks about how they love to pick up things they find laying around. He tries his best to set a good example by being that person who picks up the can on the ground and throws it away.

[Actualities]
Time: 3s
Title: Charlie pick up can
"You are the best example there is for the kids... so go pick up a can."

[Voicing]
When organizations give youth a chance to become more involved in their community, they not only help out others but they are helping themselves out too. A common stereotype with youth is that all they eventually do is get themselves into trouble. They're troublemakers. They shouldn't be trusted. With the help of these programs giving them these opportunities to prove others wrong, they are helping to build and set goals for themselves, and to reach them.

Michelle likes to reflect on a saying she always heard her mom tell her long ago.

[Actualities]
Time: 3s
Title: Michelle trouble
"A teenager that is put to work is one that stays out of trouble".

[Voicing]
The power of youth should never be underestimated. They are capable of much more than we could imagine. AJ Salsoski, Community Development Supervisor at RurALCAP had his doubts of first working with youth.

[Actualities]
Time: 7s
Title: AJ employment opportunities
"There aren't a lot of employment opportunities for them in rural areas ... So getting youth involved gets their foot in the door and they get exposure to real job experience."

[Voicing]
Youth involvement in programs will continue to grow and be promoted within rural areas of the state. Several of these smaller projects have had much impact to become permanent, ongoing programs. Youth can enjoy the benefits of building their resume and engaging in employment opportunities -- all while helping to benefit their community.

My social media policy

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and blogs have become an integral part of everyday life for millions of people around the world. Social media is important when it comes to networking with individuals to promote news, services and events, and to look for and establish sources for stories.

There is a fine line between what will be acceptable for a journalist (or anyone else in the journalism/public communications industry) when using his or her own social media networking site. This fine line must be identified as a journalist who is representing an organization must adhere to these guidelines to ensure the reputation of an organization remains credible and unbiased.

First and foremost — you should do nothing that could undermine your credibility with the public, damage an organization's standing as an impartial source of news or otherwise jeopardize the organization's reputation.

• Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap. You must remember that your professional life will take precedence in any given environment. You worked to establish a reputable name for yourself, now you must maintain that image.
  

• Use the highest level of privacy tools available to control access to your personal activity when appropriate, but don't let that make you complacent. It's just not that hard for someone to hack those tools and make public what you thought was private. A word of advice to anyone using social networking sites... if it's not okay to say it to your mom, it's probably not okay to say it online. More food for thought: don't say anything you know is inappropriate... ever.
  

• You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news organization. In other words, don't behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting. It is our job to remained unbiased to our audience through our stories and this also applied to our commentaries. We need to remain a credible news source.
  

• While we strongly encourage linking to our organization's website, you may not repost the organization's copyrighted material to social networks without prior permission. For example, it is o.k. to link from your blog or Facebook profile to a story of yours on the organization's site, but you should not copy the full text or audio onto a personal site or Web page. This will only help us maintain the utmost professionalism through our organization and to keep it strictly business.
  

• Journalism should be conducted in the open, regardless of the platform. Just as you would do if you were working offline, you should identify yourself as an organization's journalist when you are working online. If you are acting as an organization's journalist, you must not use a pseudonym or misrepresent who you are. If you are acting in a personal capacity, you may use a screen name if that is allowed by the relevant forum.

• You should always explain to anyone who provides you information online how you intend to use the information you are gathering.

• When possible, clarify and confirm any information you collect online by later interviewing your online sources by phone or in person.

• While widely disseminated and reported, material gathered online can be just as inaccurate or untrustworthy as some material collected or received in more traditional ways. As always, consider and verify the source.

• You must not advocate for political or other polarizing issues online. This extends to joining online groups or using social media in any form (including your Facebook page or a personal blog) to express personal views on a political or other controversial issue that you could not write for the air or post on your organization's website.
  

• Your simple participation in some online groups could be seen to indicate that you endorse their views. Consider whether you can accomplish your purposes by just observing a group's activity, rather than becoming a member. If you do join, be clear that you've done so to seek information or story ideas. And if you "friend" or join a group representing one side of an issue, do so for a group representing the competing viewpoint, when reasonable to do so.

• Realize that social media communities have their own culture, etiquette and norms, and be respectful of them.

• If you are writing about meetings and gatherings at an organization— always ask first if the forum is on or off the record before distributing information or content about it.

And a final caution — when in doubt, consult with your editor.

Source information is copied from: NPR.org (I really liked their social media policy the best. I wanted to mimic a lot of what they stated in their own social media policy because it was very thorough and I felt it touched bases on many areas I would not have thought of on my own. I agreed with much of what they had to say and added my own rules on top of them for further clarification.)