Building the
program that
meets your goals
With a strategy in place, it’s time to build and iteratively improve your program.
Learn from researchers and peers in the field to accelerate your program toward impact.
Use the following tools for starting a new initiative or improving a program that you’ve been running for years.
Tools and Tips for Building Your Program
Check out resources that the Cooney Center developed for stations, as a result of years of studying how high-quality programs come to life.
Linking Goals and Approach for Youth Initiatives
Use this resource to help link your project implementation to your station strategy.
Collaboration in Production: A Spectrum of Possibilities
There are many ways to collaborate with young people. See a broad spectrum of options, and select one that’s right for your program.
Strategies for Distributing Content Developed By/With/For Youth
Align your content distribution strategy with key goals in your youth initiative.
Resources from Existing Programs
Access resources from well-established programs to help improve or kickstart your own.
"Group Chat" Webinar Series
Tune into conversations between teens and adult experts about topics in youth media, digital culture, and wellbeing.
Group Chat: Youth Digital Culture
Listen to teens and adult experts in dialogue about youth digital culture from our “Group Chat” webinar series.
Group Chat: Adolescent Well-being Online
Watch researchers and teens in conversation about adolescent wellbeing online in this “Group Chat” webinar.
Group Chat: Youth Creators in Public Media
Public media professionals and teenaged content creators discuss their collaborative work in this “Group Chat” webinar.
Research Briefs
Leverage research from a wide range of fields to help advance your work.
Models of Youth-Adult Collaboration for Public Media
Drawing on best practices from a wide range of fields, this report points to evidence-based models to structure youth-adult collaborations.
Understanding Youth: A Prerequisite for Creating Programs By/With/For Tweens and Teens
In an ever-changing tech and media landscape, this research brief supports stations as they prepare responsive approaches to engaging with youth.
Content and Platform Innovation with Youth
This research brief focuses on how young people are engaging with media—including how they find what to watch and what they would like to see more…
Capacity-building Workshops
What can we learn from experts in the field? Watch these recordings of capacity-building workshops for insights from leading researchers.
Creating Opportunities for Meaningful Collaboration with Youth
Ben Kirschner (University of Colorado) shares lessons about building reciprocity into youth-adult partnership projects
Supporting an Ecosystem of Public Media that Understands Youth
Jason Yip (University of Washington) presents about effective and equitable partnerships between children and adults in co-design projects
Innovative Media Projects with Youth
Yalda T. Uhls (UCLA) shares insights about ways that adults and youth can co-design innovative media projects.
Stories from the Field
Perspectives and stories from public media professionals leading youth-facing initiatives
Connecting Kentucky’s Kids with the Country and Beyond
Allison NeCamp Day (KET) writes about connecting kids across Kentucky — and the world — with News Quiz
Not the Only One Anymore: Empowering Diverse Young Voices
Victoria Hodge (student at University of Virginia) shares her perspective on being a PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs intern in 2019
What Hasn’t Changed in the Youth Media Landscape?
Hillary Wells (GBH) discusses some of the things that have stayed the same in youth media while so much else has changed
Youth Collective: Amplifying Young Voices
Colleagues from The WNET Group writes about their “Youth Collective” initiative
Helping Teens Tell Their Stories in the Midst of COVID-19
Kaari Pitkin (WNYC) tells the story of how Radio Rookies navigated the onset of the pandemic and platformed youth voices
Learning Out Loud: Youth Media Challenges Connect Student Voices to Public Media Audiences
Rachel Roberson and Almetria Vaba (KQED) share opportunities to engage young people with Youth Media Challenges
On Our Minds: Talking About Teen Mental Health with Student Reporting Labs
Teenaged hosts from the first season of On Our Minds share lessons learned while hosting this podcast about teen mental health
Partnering for a Summer at Home: Camp TV, Public Media, and Out-of-School Enrichment
Sandra Sheppard (WNET) tells the story of Camp TV and the partnerships that powered it
Seeing and Hearing Our Diverse, Compassionate Gen Z Storytellers
Leah Clapman (Student Reporting Labs) elevates the perspectives of diverse youth with SRL
Connecting with Youth through Authenticity and Collaboration
Keena Levert and Ashley Gain (Public Media Group of Southern California) uses the Connected Learning model to engage youth