Americans today tend to exist in generational silos. Even within communities, we are often socially and institutionally divided by age. People congregate in social venues with their own age groups. Our culture, especially social media, often reinforces age-based differences through labeling or exaggerating conflict among generations.

At API we have been working on ways that news organizations can help bridge divides in their communities, including across generations, with the idea that communities work best if people share their diverse perspectives, life experiences and lessons to confront and solve common problems.

This ethos is embedded in our local news summits, including one in Nashville in which we discussed ways news organizations can build on a community’s history and culture to develop new audiences and one in Denver where we discussed intergenerational connections.

To that end, we have asked five people outside of journalism with experience in engaging and working with people of all ages how they approach their work. What practices do they use to engage young people that news organizations can adapt and apply in broadening their audiences?

You’ll find common themes in their answers — one is that it is a mistake to think that young people will not engage on civic issues or that they are uncurious about them — but also unique insights that arise from their own work outside of journalism.

We hope their answers will give news organizations some transferable ideas and skills that will help them think about connecting their communities and engaging people regardless of age — and expanding audiences in the process.

Treat young people as ‘partners in exploration’

By Fernande Raine
Founder, The HistoryCo:Lab

Engaging young people in conversations about local history begins with a mindset shift: don’t approach them as an audience to be merely filled with information, but as partners in exploration. Young people are naturally curious and drawn to stories that connect past to present — if we let them follow their own questions. “Why is this building abandoned?” “Why is that neighborhood so diverse?” “What does this street name mean?” Too often, adults present history as a fixed narrative or expect young people to absorb someone else’s version of what matters. The opportunity is inviting their sense of wonder.

Young people bring something essential that journalists’ traditional sources often do not: moral clarity and fresh eyes. They haven’t yet resigned themselves to the injustices or patterns that many adults have come to accept. They see the gap between the values we profess and the realities around them — and they want to do something about it.

The best way to engage young people on local issues is through agency: invite them to investigate who is trying to solve the problems they care about, and what forces shape the flow of resources and power in their community. When young people can ask their own questions and contribute to public understanding, they light up.

I’ve learned this again and again: if you trust young people with real stakes and the tools of inquiry, they will surpass your expectations. Teens are magnificent when treated as civic actors, creators and leaders.

News leaders can play a catalytic role here. Local history and culture can be powerful bridges across generations when newsrooms invite young people into the process of discovery. Showcase them as historical detectives — surfacing hidden stories, investigating erased histories and connecting past to present. The teen-led effort to map sites for Civic Thriving in Pittsburgh or the Troutbeck Symposium, where teens uncovered and shared stories of racial justice from their region, are just two examples. This work not only engages young people; it enriches community understanding and builds pathways for civic participation.

Newsrooms that embrace young people as partners in local storytelling can help weave a more inclusive and hopeful civic fabric. Our democracy needs it.

Creating space for transformation

By Sarina Otaibi
Activate Rural program director, Department of Public Transformation

Activation of creative places cultivates community connection, openness and curiosity in spaces like former cafes, churches, cinemas, or school buildings. At the Department of Public Transformation, our Activate Rural program encourages rural communities to look at their existing creative community assets, such as an underutilized historic downtown building. Transforming that building into a creative cultural hub for a rural community opens up residents to the possibilities of their place, especially for young people. Creative spaces provide a platform for young artists and creative entrepreneurs to share their vision and hope for their place.

In Mahnomen, Minn., the Manoomin Arts Initiative creates space for young artists to collaborate on public art projects, share their work as a part of their Emerging Artists series and collects input on their needs and wants for studio, class, gallery and retail spaces at artist gatherings. The YES! House, a creative gathering space in Granite Falls, Minn., hosts emerging and established artists as a part of a close-to-home residency. The experience provides dedicated time to their practice, connects them with a regional network of creative people and programs, and enables them to share their work with friends, family and neighbors in an “artist salon” public showcase. With each of these opportunities, young people are connecting and engaging with their communities through their art.

A common focus with many Activate Rural building activation projects is providing intergenerational spaces for communication and connection to happen. It especially allows young people to share how they see and experience the past, present and future of their place.

Bridging generations through local stories

By Christopher Norris
Chief strategy officer, StoryCorps

Engaging young people with local history isn’t about dusty textbooks — it’s about showing them they’re part of an ongoing story.

As a former teacher (K-3 and high school), someone who has curated intergenerational community conversations, and a student of history, I’ve learned that the secret is making history relevant, interactive and aspirational. Bring the past to life by showing how it informs the future, and how young people are part of that continuum. When young people can see themselves in the stories of local trailblazers, it becomes easier to imagine what’s possible for their own lives. Instead of presenting history as a dry subject to be memorized, it becomes a lived, cultural experience that shapes how we understand today and build tomorrow.

Young people bring something invaluable to community conversations: simplicity, curiosity and fresh perspectives — often with a raw authenticity that seasoned experts might overlook. Their lens isn’t filtered by decades of professional conditioning, which can make their insights surprising, honest and illuminating.

To engage them on local issues, start where they are — emotionally, digitally and culturally. Use storytelling, art and media formats they already connect with. Most importantly, make space for them not just to listen, but to lead. Ask their opinions, feature their voices and let them shape the conversation.

Nothing happening today is entirely new — whether it’s resistance to technology, political division or community tensions. The key is helping young people see themselves as part of that historical arc, showing them they’re not just shaped by history but actively shaping it. Connect them to past changemakers who were their age when they made a difference. That connection builds purpose, perspective and power.

The power of historical nostalgia

By Clay Routledge
Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab, Archbridge Institute

On the surface, it may seem like young generations are uninterested in history, and perhaps especially local history, as well as the cultural wisdom and continuity that is derived from engaging with the stories of people, places and events that predate them.

After all, Gen Z and young Millennials grew up in a forward-looking and fast-moving digital age in which the internet allowed them to form communities that extend far beyond their local environment. However, my research reveals that these young Americans are actually quite interested in exploring past eras and find doing so helpful in navigating their own life challenges and planning for the future.

One psychological force behind young people’s often-overlooked engagement with historical content is nostalgia. Recognizing this presents local news leaders with a significant opportunity to connect more effectively with this demographic. While individuals of all ages tend to feel nostalgic about their own past (personal nostalgia), younger generations are surprisingly highly nostalgic for eras that predate their lifetimes (historical nostalgia).

The overwhelming majority of Gen Z adults and Millennials report feeling nostalgic for eras before their lifetimes. They also report being drawn to media, styles, hobbies and traditions originating from these historical periods and express strong beliefs that new technologies should incorporate ideas and design elements from these eras. And they find historical nostalgia useful for managing the stress of modern life and anxiety about the future. Their engagement with the historical past isn’t merely passive consumption, but instead reflects an active and creative endeavor to develop their own sense of self, cultivate cultural literacy, seek out shared stories and intergenerational bonds, and explore innovative ways to improve life in the present and build a better future.

If local news leaders want to make meaningful inroads with younger generations, they should seek to understand their nostalgia-fueled fascination with history and recognize that empirical research challenges popular characterizations of nostalgia as regressive and historical interest as primarily the domain of older adults. When used appropriately, nostalgia can inspire community engagement, intergenerational dialogue and forward-thinking approaches to local storytelling that resonate deeply with younger audiences seeking both historical understanding and future-oriented hope.

Bring young people into the creative process

By Dillon St. Bernard
Founder, Team DSB

The not-so-secret way to engage young people in conversations about history, culture or civic life is to co-create. This means providing opportunities to not just listen to young people, but rather share the platform. Share the mic. Share the byline. Share decision-making power.

However, getting to a point of thoughtful co-creation does take:

  • Re-shaping when, where and how we get feedback and perspective from young people. Too often, I’ve seen something created “for” young people — and then the “engagement” is for them to react to it and share feedback. That often is not only ineffective, but also misuses the energy and power that young people have to give. When young people are included only after a work product is finished, it sends the message that their lived experiences and creative instincts are an afterthought.
  • Following curiosity. The reason many folks initially jump into news is that they are curious. Young people — like everyone else — want to be asked what they care about. They want genuine opportunities to share without interruption, and for their lived experience to be recognized as true expertise and a value-add to the conversation. This includes adding more young people as sources. Young people are often disproportionately impacted by key issues, but I’ve found that youth voices are often left out of the conversation.
  • Building thoughtful relationships. Some of my best working relationships have been with folks who are 40 years older than me. But the success of those relationships has relied on how willing we both were to connect as people, which is about finding commonality and having a mutual respect. It’s about recognizing that each age group brings its own strengths, challenges and aspirations to the table.

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