Join our API Local News Summit on Youth Trust and Civic Resilience

The American Press Institute is hosting a local summit on March 25-26 in West Palm Beach, Fla., to identify and advance solutions that help local news organizations build trusted relationships with young people, empowering them to shape their community’s future.

Young people today have abundant opportunity to share information, distribute it creatively and otherwise leverage technology to improve their lives and those around them. But they also face significant challenges in the places they live and the futures they will inherit. How can news organizations recognize young people’s agency, meet their needs today and build affinity that will help them problem-solve personally and engage civically as they grow? Amid challenges to news organizations’ capacity, how might media partner or invest strategically to equip young stakeholders and lifelong advocates for both the news organization and the community’s civic health writ large?

This API Local News Summit on Youth Trust and Civic Resilience will explore:

• Innovative ways local media are structuring community engagement and coverage to amplify voice from and equip young residents as future leaders of their communities
• Frameworks from outside of journalism that may help local media build bridges with teens and young adults to encourage healthy relationships across generations
• Untapped potential to further position local media as a cultivator and retainer of young residents for local civic engagement and community leadership

API Local News Summits are highly participatory, invitation-based events that provide a welcoming and collaborative space for media leaders to think boldly about the role of the free press in the future of our communities.

We anticipate that 60 diverse local media decision-makers and experts from outside of journalism will participate in this convening. Our participant limit encourages actionable ideas in an environment that facilitates open discussion. The peer network created through this summit will receive follow-up support from API after the news leaders return home and as part of programming API plans around this topic.

While our summits are invitation-based, we want to grow this network.

If you are in a local or community-centered news organization and are working on projects that empower young people in your community or equip young talent for civic engagement, we encourage you to apply below for a remaining spot. Job titles for suggested attendees include, as examples: Editor in Chief, Community Engagement Editor, Special Projects Editor, Opinion Editor, Executive Director, Founder or Program Manager. Local-focused creators and independent journalists, whether collaborating with local media on these themes or not, are also encouraged to apply.

Please also consider applying if your organization is doing similar work to these outlets:

• Equip youth with new civic skills, providing guidance and a chance to build civic muscles for life. Stet News’ “Community Voices” program gives high schoolers experience with public meetings and Mississippi Free Press’ “solution circles” build facilitation skills.
• Honor youth’s natural skills, amplifying multimedia skills and voice. CalMatters ran a teenage creator contest around election information and Morning, Trojan meets USC students where they consume information.
• Connect youth to real conversations and today’s leaders, highlighting their voice matters not just later but now. CivicLex hosts Civic Expos connecting students directly with leaders and NowKalamazoo leads “town hall field trips” that reach across generations.
• Accompany them as their life evolves, designing products and experiences for the choices in front of and ahead of them. The Dallas Morning News designed voting coverage for first-time voters and The Boston Globe’s B-Side hosts a supper club to spur social connection as young people age.

Make sure to submit your application  by Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Due to space and to prioritize learning and exchange among news leaders, please note that seats are limited for journalism support organizations and researchers. Support for 2026 API Local News Summits is made possible by a range of sponsors and supporters, including Regional Champions LOR Foundation for the Mountain West and Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan for the Great Lakes region. Support from the Kiplinger Program in Public Affairs and the Florida International University Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media will help keep this event accessible and expand the public-facing resources produced from this gathering.

Have questions? Reach out to the API summit team at events@pressinstitute.org.