Jennifer Hatchett of YouthServe Talks Youth Empowerment and Radio
Jennifer Hatchett is the Executive Director of YouthServe, a group that empowers youth leadership through community service. The students worked with WBHM this summer to produce their own radio stories. She talked with WBHM’s Gina Yu about the program.
Hatchett says YouthServe promotes a continuum of youth engagement where all kinds of different opportunities are available. Hatchett explains that students in the program learn about youth leadership and civic engagement. They then take the topics out of their discussions and adapt them into a community service component. Past projects included hosting educational talks about drug and alcohol abuse in different schools.
Youth and Radio
YouthServe recently included a radio storytelling component into their program and asked WBHM to help. “I think when you give a voice to young people, they bring energy and vitality to it,” Hatchett says. “Because they know that this is their future.”
One recent group of students decided to focus on homelessness. They visited a feeding service and interviewed various people there. “They began to understand the systemic barriers of people who are experiencing homelessness,” she says. “They learn a lot about things they see. Youth are so passionate. They’re going, ‘You know, this isn’t fair. This is crazy’.”
Hatchett wants to encourage her students to take their experiences and discoveries and share them with their communities.
Opportunities for Positive Growth
“If we give youth, the opportunity to positively develop, then they will positively develop,” she says. Programs like YouthServe exist to meet students where they are. The focus is to celebrate their passion and compassion. “They’re sensitive to things happening in their community,” Hatchett says. “With all the noise out there in the world, so often, they just feel so small, like there’s nothing they can do about it.”
Youthserve hopes to be one of many programs that offer opportunities for students to make positive choices and meaningful impacts on their communities.
Hear one of the Youthserve radio stories here:
Tennessee readies for execution of man with working implanted defibrillator
Gov. Bill Lee declined to grant a reprieve Monday amid uncertainty about whether the implantable defibrillator will shock Byron Black's heart when the lethal drug takes effect.
Brazil’s Supreme Court orders house arrest for former President Bolsonar
The trial of the far-right leader is receiving renewed attention after U.S. President Donald Trump directly tied a 50% tariff on imported Brazilian goods to his ally's judicial situation.
State Department may require visa applicants to post bond of up to $15,000 for entry
The State Department said it would start a pilot program that will require cash deposits to tourist and business visas for people from countries with high overstay rates.
Texas Democrats block GOP redistricting plan by fleeing the state
The Texas House failed to reach the quorum needed to vote on a new congressional map that could have given Republicans five new seats, after House Democrats forced a legislative standstill.
Wildfire smoke is like smoking ‘half a pack a day.’ Here’s how to protect yourself
As Canadian wildfires spread smoke across the U.S. the air pollution is dangerous to health. But there are ways to protect yourself. Here's what to know.
Texas Democrats walked out to block the GOP. How well has the tactic worked before?
Dozens of Texas Democrats left the state to protest a redistricting map, facing potentially steep consequences. Lawmaker walkouts have had mixed success in the past — so what is there to gain?