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Youth Radio 4 mentorship/shadowing program for reporters and producers, which includes two two-week stays at NPR in Washington, D.C. She was one of only seven chosen from a national pool of applicams. 4. Violence Prevention: Community Involvement & Media Advocacy Youth Radio is developing a model of national significance for engaging youth in violence prevention through the media. This three-year program trains and involves young people in local and statewide media advocacy through the Violence Prevention Initiative of The California Wellness Foundation. Youth Radio teams of peer teachers and adult professionals work one-on-one with 17 community collaboratives across California, teaching, mentoring, and advising local youth on how to use the media to combat violence in their own communities. Not only aze peer teachers powerful ambassadors and role models for other young people, they are developing an empowering network in which they share ideas, strategies, and expertise while helping each other become leaders and spokespersons. Close to 900 students from youth groups have been reached through this media advocacy outreach program which is also responding to needs expressed in the Bay Area as much as possible. Many Youth Radio students become active community participants by speaking out regularly at public forums, conferences, and in the schools. As articulate, media-savvy spokespersons, Youth Radio students become part of the public discussion on problems and solutions. Building on the tremendous response students have received from other young people, Youth Radio has launched a Street Team to spread its violence prevention activities further into the community. The Street Team went on the road this summer with a DJ set-up, music, and speak-out microphones to places kids gather-youth festivals, school activities such as dances and games, and cultural events. DJs and rap music are a familiar part of youth culture, yet few kids have access to the equipment. Youth Radio is also becoming more visible in the community by promoting discussions on violence and other issues kids want to raise at these neighborhood events. The Street Team concept is easily replicable for a relatively small capital investment, and Youth Radio will disseminate the approach to community organizations as a means to expand their outlets for youth voices while teaching technical skills that may serve in the job market. Youth Radio has adapted its core training program to go "behind bars" to serve incarcerated youth. A growing yet nearly ignored group--40% of African American males in their twenties in California are caught up in some way with the criminal justice system-these youth know the devastation of violence first-hand and have few routes out. Youth Radio classes provide skills training while they are inside, and for those who can, a place to come to as part of their transition back to the outside. A cornerstone of this project is the programming that is produced by the students during their training. KPFA has agreed to broadcast a one hour program produced "live on tape" from Log Cabin Ranch--music, poetry and commentaries produced as the students' graduation show. Material will also be developed for KQED, KYLD, KCBS, KMEL, NPR and other Youth Radio outlets. The hope is that From the Inside Out will produce a small cadre of violence prevention activists who will `testify' to other youth from the perspective of having been there.