YR Media.
YR Media is an award-winning media, technology, and music training center and platform for emerging BIPOC content creators, who use their voices to change the world.
Their Mission.
YR Media is an award-winning media, technology, and music training center and platform for emerging BIPOC content creators, who use their voices to change the world. Headquartered in downtown Oakland, California with a new Midwest hub in Chicago, the non-profit has invested 30 years in helping future generations build foundational skills in journalism and multimedia content creation.
The organization engages BIPOC youth from underrepresented communities in intensive, stipended digital media and technology training. Graduates of the training are eligible for paid opportunities at YR Media where they work alongside professional journalists, producers, and creatives to produce Peabody Award-winning media, develop technology, and teach their peers.
YR Media also provides a platform and competitive freelance payments to a network of contributors, whose work is featured on yr.media.
Program Summary.
YR Media draws 14-to 24-year-olds in Oakland and Chicago into their classes and community spaces to gain academic, career, and life skills that lead to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in creative and storytelling fields. As part of its model, YR Media also provides free holistic support services as well as access to cutting-edge industry-aligned software and equipment.
“You can’t change the story without changing the storytellers,” said YR Media CEO Kyra Kyles, a 20-year veteran of multimedia journalism and communications with a focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the media. “Our mission is to usher in the next generation of media and music industry leaders.”
Demographics and Outcomes.
In 2022, YR Media served 161 youth in their Media Education and Employment Pathway program. Of these, 23% were African American/Black, 25% LatinX/Hispanic, 20% Asian American, White 14%, Multiracial 14%, Middle Eastern 3%, with 1% declining to state. 90% of the youth came from Oakland/Bay Area of California and 10 % from five states outside of California. 28% came from multilingual households, 8% where Spanish is the primary language, 1 % where Arabic, Tigrinya, Vietnamese, Chinese were spoken at home and the rest from English speaking households. The gender identity of the youth was 47% Female, 42% Male, and 11% Trans/Gender Fluid. 86 % of the youth in the Media Education and Employment Pathway program graduated high school.