Training and youth involvement are central to this programme. All young writers must complete the newspaper's 8-week Journalism 101 class before joining the staff. Led by professional journalists, the sessions teach literary skills and enhance young journalists' ability to analyse media reports and social conditions. Participants study the function of media as a source of objective information in a free, democratic society. Advanced students learn about the function of media in democracy and gain broadcasting techniques in the Journalism 201 section. At any given time, between 20 and 25 students are in the two classes. The young writers tackle topics like gun control, teen pregnancy, federal poverty programmes, police brutality, and drug abuse.

Young writers are paid 15 cents a word for articles that are printed in English, with additional articles in Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Korean. Residents' Journal is a bi-monthly publication written entirely by Chicago public housing tenants and distributed free of charge to 40,000 households in low-income communities across the Chicago metropolitan area. It tracks welfare reform, poverty, housing and other issues affecting the lives of its readers. Articles and columns written and reported by young journalists appear in a four-page youth section within the 24-page journal. In addition to Residents' Journal and the Chicago Defender, the articles produced by Urban Youth International Journalism Program participants also appear in My Gumbo, a nationally distributed youth-written-and-oriented magazine based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

The hope is that young people trained through this programme will go on to study journalism in college and become reporters for mainstream publications. At Residents' Journal, women make up nearly 70% of the staff. African Americans comprise more than 90% of the staff, one that also includes Latinos and East Asians.

Young journalists have traveled twice to Washington, D.C. (1998 and 1999), where they met and interviewed high-level government officials. In 1998, 16 young people traveled to Ghana and Israel on a fact-finding journey in which they met and interviewed journalists, community leaders, and government officials. After each journey, the young journalists wrote articles about their experiences to the readerships of Residents' Journal and the Chicago Defender. The articles provided information on the function of government and the role of the media both in the United States and abroad.

Youth, Diversity, Journalism, Economic Development, Political Development.

We the People Media explains that young people in Chicago's inner city are experiencing unprecedented turmoil as a result of the ongoing demolition of the city's stock of high-rise public housing. When their buildings were demolished, most of the families who lived in Robert Taylor Homes, Stateway Gardens, and other developments
moved into other low-income areas like Englewood, Roseland, and South Shore.
In these neighbourhoods, the former residents merged with a much larger
population of economically poor families who never lived in public housing. Where the
population of public housing at its peak was approximately 150,000, U.S. Census data indicate 556,791 people are living below the poverty line in Chicago. One-half of that population, approximately 270,000 people, live in households that earn less than US$10,000 annually.

Again according to organisers, on a national level, print media executives recognise that their industry is partially responsible for perpetuating stereotypes, and have responded by seeking to make their organisations more diverse. We the People Media contends that The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), among other organisations, makes a concerted effort every
year to sponsor programming and conduct surveys to measure progress toward a
diverse media workforce. Yet, by 2007, the percentage of minorities in print
journalism decreased slightly to just 13.62% of the total number of journalists. Despite a sincere effort, the industry is falling further
behind targets set by ASNE in 2000 to chart performance toward a goal of newsroom parity with the U.S. minority population by 2025.

More than 150 Chicago inner-city youth have been involved in the programme. We the People Media explains that the work of these young writers runs contrary to the stereotypes of low-income housing residents in inner-city United States. A 2001 readership survey, for example, revealed that 84% of public-housing residents who responded had voted in the most recent election. Many residents are activists, driven to speak out on causes affecting residents of public housing.