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The InSite: When did you get involved with Project
Reach Youth?
Leba: In 1996. I got a job working in a journalism
program called Project Express with 50 high school students
who are considered to be "youth at risk." Which varies as to
what it means.
TI: What does it mean to you?
Leba: Well, I question [that label]
because a lot of times young people of color are considered
"youth at risk" even when they're not. And there's a lot of
research on "risk factors." I would say the majority of them
are considered "low income." Some of the students' families
receive public assistance. But to me they are really youth
leaders and I wouldn't consider them "youth at risk" at
all!
Well,
I question [that label] because a lot of times
young people of color are considered "youth at risk" even
when they're not.
TI: So the students come to this program because they
have an interest in journalism?
Leba: Yes! They are all from the Brooklyn
community and it's a work/experience program for them.
TI: And what kind of things do you do with
them?
Leba: We produce a youth magazine 4 times a year
called "Youth on the Rise." The magazine covers youth
issues. The young people come together and brainstorm what
issues are affecting young people in New York City and in
the country and what they think is important [to put in
the magazine].
TI: For example, what was in your last issue?
Leba: One student we had was from Ghana. He was
comparing life in Ghana with life in New York. One student
wrote about Mars Exploration and the debate about whether we
should spend the money on planet Earth, helping young people
or whether it was important to explore more [of outer
space]. One student wrote a rap that was four pages long
about power. It was really cool! Somebody wrote about the
legalization of marijuana. Somebody wrote about body image
and how the media prey on women.
TI: And when you publish "Youth on the Rise" where
does it go?
Leba: Mostly to youth agencies and high schools in
New York City. We sometimes go into the community and into
local stores and on the street to pass it out. But mostly in
the schools and teachers have been using it for teaching
guides too. Because in the past we've covered issues like
immigration and welfare reform. It's all written by them, in
really accessible language.
TI: Are there graphics in the magazine?
Leba: Yes. Students do drawings and photography. I
was also teaching a photography class there.
One
student wrote a rap that was four pages long about power.
It was really cool!
TI: It sounds like a lot of work! Do the students make
a year long commitment to this project?
 Leba:
They get trained over the summer and we hope that they stay
for the full academic year. I have students in the program
who have been there for three years! The program involves
the magazine, but it also involves preparing them for
college and helping them look at their college options. It
also includes counseling. We have a social worker in the
program and we run "group" twice a week so it involves
curriculum development and program planning. We also
organize trips and try to expose the students to careers in
journalism. We also pay the students.
TI: How is your program funded?
Leba: Mostly by the Robin Hood Foundation. Which
is basically a bunch of Wall Street people who decide to
give money to social service.
TI: Sounds like a good group of people!
Leba: Yes, they have funded us over a number of
years.
TI: Have you been there long enough to know of any
young people whose lives have been turned around through
this program?
Leba: I know of one student who had dropped out of
school...he was having a hard time... He started out as an
intern at Housing Works, which is an organization for people
with AIDS. They ask people from the community to donate
clothing and housing materials and they distribute them to
people with AIDS. He got a very high paying job and has
gotten really involved with the organization. He really
worked his way up and really proved himself.
TI: Sounds like a situation where your own
expectations and goals for the future can be changed when
other people start believing in you.
Leba: Yeah! Definitely. I think that's the case.
The young people we work with, they have amazing skills and
amazing dreams, but they don't always feel that what they
want to do is possible. So part of our job is encouraging
them. As a staff we talk a lot about being role models.
Explain to the students the process of how we got to where
we [each] are now. It's not easy. That it's
complicated and there are struggles. We all have to go
through different barriers.
The
young people...have amazing skills and amazing dreams,
but they don't always feel that what they want to do is
possible.
Leba: There are different barriers for me than for
some of these students.
TI: Because you're white?
Leba: Yes and also because I come from a higher
income family. Going to college was expected of me. I had
wanted to leave high school several times and part of the
reason I stayed and persevered was because I knew I really
wanted to go to University. So as much work experience and
other experience that I was getting outside of high school,
I always knew that was always important. It's been really
instrumental. The work I do with young people isn't anything
that I learned in college, but...you get respect. I wouldn't
have gotten this job if I didn't have a college
education.
TI: So the college diploma, the piece of paper, is a
person's admission ticket to playing the game?
Leba: It definitely is!
The
work I do with young people isn't anything that I
learned in college, but...you get respect. I wouldn't
have gotten this job if I didn't have a college
education.
Find out more about Project Reach
Youth by writing to them at:
Project Reach Youth, Inc.
199 14th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(716) 768-0778
Find out more about Robin Hood
Foundation
Write to them at:
Robin Hood Foundation
111 Broadway, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10006
(212) 227-6601
Email Leba at:
sweetbug@classic.msn.com
Check Out More "Solutions in
Sight"
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Leba Rubinoff came to New York City to go to college. There she hooked up with Project Reach Youth, a special group in Brooklyn that teaches high school students interested in writing about careers in journalism. Their quarterly magazine "Youth on the Rise," which Leba helps edit, gives students a chance to show their stuff while they learn how much great stuff there is inside of each of them to show!