For the Chinatown installment of Departures Youth Voices, we partnered with the Chinatown Service Center's Youth Council, a program that has been around for decades. We were very fortunate to work with them because they are the main—and perhaps only—hub where youth from around the area hang out.
Our hope for the Chinatown Youth Voices Project was that it would provide a voice for the new generation of ethnic Chinese in the area, while also representing the great diversity of voices from the area's past, present, and future. Learning media production against the background of the neighborhood in which you live gave students an opportunity to discover who they are very directly - an empowering experience that is not commonly had in educational settings.
The majority of the students at the Chinatown Service Center were enrolled at Chatsworth High School. The rest of the kids were students at Central High School of the Performing Arts down the street on Sunset and Grand.
Enjoy what the students produced for the Chinatown Youth Voices Project.