BROUGHT
TO YOU BY

YR Media Logo WNYC Logo Radio Rookies

In 2020, 13 young adults from around the country came together to document their lives during a historic moment. These are our stories.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

YR Media Logo
WNYC Logo
Radio Rookies

In 2020, 13 young adults from around the country came together to document their lives during a historic moment. These are our stories.

Stories

“I’m not looking to change anyone's mind, but if our voices can help people empathize just a little bit more with other communities, and get them to think more about where we are as a country, that's good.”

Madison Hall
Baltimore, MD

Contributors

About

We are 18- to 29-year-olds. We spent 2020 chronicling our lives during a historic election year because we had so much at stake. There was a lot of speculation in mainstream media about which candidate we would vote for and how many of us would actually go to the polls, but very little attention paid to our actual experiences and perspectives when it comes to the issues being debated on the national stage. These issues are more than talking points for us. They are the struggles that define our communities and our futures. They are our stories, they need to be told and we want to be the ones to tell them. Our perspectives are featured here and on partner outlets as we made sense of ourselves, our communities, our country.

This project was a collaboration between YR Media and WNYC’s Radio Rookies. We were part of a national contributor search, which attracted more than one hundred applications across the country and all of us — 13 talented young media makers — were chosen. We are racially and ethnically diverse, identify across the political spectrum, and represent every region in the country. With support from YR Media and Radio Rookies editorial staff, we produced content in audio, video, and print formats on issues including criminal justice, #BlackLivesMatter, education, LGBTQ rights, college affordability, addiction and immigration. Check out an OpEd from YR Media's CEO on where this project fits in history. Also, don’t miss our collaboration with POPSUGAR.

The 18-to-29 Now: Young America Speaks Up project is made possible in part by the following supporters of YR Media and WNYC: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Margaret Neubart Foundation and Newman’s Own Foundation.