About Youth Document Durham

Youth Document Durham is a CDS summer program that gathers young people, ages 11-15, from a diversity of Durham neighborhoods to document, learn, and take action about issues that affect their communities and their lives. The program equips them with documentary skills—photography and interviewing—to use as tools for self- and community discovery and validates their perspectives and ideas, amplifying their voices in important community and policy discussions in Durham. Their documentary projects focus public attention on issues and give voice to perspectives often not heard.

CDS worked with a youth advisory council, an ethnically diverse group of past program participants, to develop Youth Document Durham 2001. The focus areas they chose are:

Jobs That Pay- An exploration of the skills and education required to succeed in the world of work and the ways young people can contribute to the quality of their own learning experiences;
Why Teens Fight- An examination of the culture of violence and gangs, the criminal justice system, methods of self-defense, and conflict resolution; and
World Wide Colors- An exploration of cross-cultural relations and cultural identity during which young people look at what it means to be an "American."

Through Youth Document Durham, CDS collaborates with such partners as the Boys & Girls Clubs, neighborhood community centers, and several Durham Parks & Recreations sites. In turn, the hope is that YDD participants will be empowered to take on leadership roles among their peers and among the organizations that serve them. Issues such as gangs, school violence, teen pregnancy, and dropout rates can be addressed most effectively with young people participating not as "clients" but as leaders. YDD demonstrates ways in which young people can envision and help implement concrete strategies to solve some of the pressing social problems facing Durham.

Youth Document Durham is a project of the Center for Documentary Studies with funding support from the City of Durham and the Elizabeth Wade Grant Endowment Fund and the Claude and Adele Thomas Fund of the Triangle Community Foundation.

RAISED VOICES