How student-led community coverage fosters intergenerational connections in historic LA neighborhood

In one of Los Angeles’ oldest neighborhoods with a rich history of activism, a unique form of intergenerational solidarity is taking root. Here, high school students aren’t just the subjects of local news — they are its authors, bridging across generations one story at a time. This is the work of Boyle Heights Beat, a bilingual digital and print newspaper that for 15 years has grown from exclusively youth-led journalism to youth and professional full-time reporting that captures the community’s resilience, hope and holistic experiences by and for the community.

Through a partnership of USC Annenberg School of Journalism and La Opinión, Boyle Heights Beat started in 2010 as an extracurricular high school journalism program with two goals. The first was to train and pay local high school students to report on their community. Whether covering a local mom-and-pop shop, the fight against gentrification in a predominantly low-income Latinx neighborhood, or the impact of crime from the perspectives of local residents, students learned to pitch and write stories that they were passionate about. The second goal was to offer a different perspective of Boyle Heights beyond the image of being a place where only crime and poverty thrive.

Every autumn, a cohort of 15 to 20 students start the semester-long after-school training. The first two months are spent diving into the foundations of journalism, the art of interviewing and building a successful story pitch. The third month is focused on scheduling and conducting interviews, transcribing and identifying potential quotes. The last month is crunch time: writing the first draft.

Like in any other newsroom, the story goes through multiple editing rounds with mentors and editors and is then submitted for publication. Simultaneously, students take photos that run  alongside the story. Lastly, the story is published both online and printed in our quarterly edition, which is distributed across the community to local businesses, libraries, churches and schools.

This year we celebrate our 15-year anniversary. Over 300 students have gone through our program, myself included. The majority went on to pursue a post-secondary degree, some in journalism.

A handful of us returned as full-time professional staff years later, creating a powerful cycle of intergenerational mentorship. Staff like Alex Medina, our first community reporter; Jackie Ramirez, our social media producer; Kate Valdez, our operations and engagement manager; Carmen Gonzalez, our former student journalism manager; and myself, the community engagement director. We returned because we believe in the mission of Boyle Heights Beat. Personally, I returned to help more students obtain the life-changing opportunities I received.

As we turn 15, we are also celebrating a new chapter with our growth and expansion. In September 2024, Boyle Heights Beat joined the LA Local News Initiative as its first newsroom. The LA Local News Initiative is a startup nonprofit news organization that provides free access to high-quality news and information that fosters civic engagement, strengthens democracy, increases accountability, builds trust and uplifts communities across Greater Los Angeles. What we’ve built at Boyle Heights Beat, both its community and high school student journalism, is being taken to neighborhoods across Los Angeles.

With almost 10 million residents across 88 distinct cities and hundreds of neighborhoods in LA County, local news that reflects their lives, meets their needs and earns their trust is in demand. We will address this demand at the neighborhood level by launching new community newsrooms across the city, beginning with communities that are underserved, overlooked and often misrepresented by local media.

In addition, we will expand our high school youth journalist program in each new community newsroom, offering more young people across Los Angeles the opportunity to develop skills and get paid for their work.

As we expand, we are aware that the methods that worked for Boyle Heights Beat may not work the exact same way in every neighborhood, but we know that trust begins with community listening and authentic engagement, and that’s true everywhere. We are building a framework that relies on partnerships, mentorship and genuine care.

Partnerships

• Connect with high school teachers and counselors that can recruit students who might be a good fit for the program. The first cohort of reporters for Boyle Heights Beat was recruited by teachers, and since then, we’ve identified key staff members across local high schools to schedule recruitment presentations and attend career and resource fairs — students now apply to participate.
• Partner with local nonprofit organizations, community groups, and small businesses to build trust among the community and reach people across generations. Throughout the years, we’ve collaborated on events like our candidate forums for local elections and our annual student-led community meetings where we raise awareness about local issues such as environmental justice and mental health. These partnerships with schools and community organizations have helped us not only build rapport with local residents, it has also helped us expand our audience across generations.

Mentorships

• Pair student reporters with professional journalists to strengthen reporting skills. Mentorship is where the magic happens. During the semester-long program, every student reporter gets to collaborate with professional journalists that facilitate the curriculum. The mentor works closely with students to stay on track with deadlines, support in the preparation and conducting of interviews and provide feedback on their drafts.
• Understand the value of intergenerational connections. Beyond meeting deadlines and completing assignments, this is where our model truly builds solidarity. The relationships we develop are crucial not just for keeping students engaged,but for creating spaces of mutual learning where knowledge and lived experiences are communally exchanged across generations. As a result, our mentors end up becoming mentors for life, in and outside of journalism.

Authentic care

• Root relationship-building with students in authentic caring. Although our work exists outside of a traditional school setting, we recognize that students want to feel seen and also cared for. This is particularly important in settings like Boyle Heights, where students of color have experienced marginalization, unequal education opportunities and systemic oppression.
• Plan to provide for students’ needs. As professor and researcher Angela Valenzuela claims, students want to feel cared for before they begin to care for their education. We believe this goes for our youth reporters as well. We provide transportation, meals during our meeting times, and connect them to resources when necessary.

For the last 15 years, Boyle Heights Beat has become a trusted source of information across Boyle Heights, our youth journalism program has grown where the number of applicants continues to rise each year and we have created a pipeline where alumni return as staff and mentor the next generation of youth reporters and storytellers.

Last but equally important, we’ve written stories that are more representative, holistic and that capture the intricacies of the community. We are honored and excited to take this model to other communities in Los Angeles, proving that when you empower and trust young people to tell the stories of their elders and neighbors, you don’t just create journalists. You also build a more connected, resilient, hopeful city for all the different generations that proudly call this place home. Generations that deserve their stories to be written by and for the community.

 

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Kevin Martinez is the Community Engagement Director for the Los Angeles Local News Initiative, which operates the Boyle Heights Beat newsroom.