Recovery through Journalism has received wide support among the East African Community in Seattle. Under the newly established nonprofit called “Awareness and Recovery Institute (ARI)”, the project trained eight East African youth, the majority of whom are Somalis. During the training, the youth participated in reading, writing, computer aided reporting, and photography workshops. Soon after the training, the youth started practicing what they had learned; they are now providing photographs and some short writing to […] Recovery through Journalism has received wide support among the East African Community in Seattle. Under the newly established nonprofit called “Awareness and Recovery Institute (ARI)”, the project trained eight East African youth, the majority of whom are Somalis. During the training, the youth participated in reading, writing, computer aided reporting, and photography workshops. Soon after the training, the youth started practicing what they had learned; they are now providing photographs and some short writing to the East African newspaper, Runta.
The goals of the project were to: 1).Prevent young East Africans from involvement in unlawful and destructive behavior by providing them with useful, positive, and constructive skills, especially in civic engagement and technical aspects of media; 2) Provide a community structure of ongoing support and opportunity enabling youth to contribute meaningfully in an increasingly technological society; and 3) Provide a useful community role for youth who, due to war trauma, broken families, and street violence are at risk for destructive behaviors, thus improving their sense of hope and setting them on paths towards technically competent careers in community organizations and media.
Thanks to the City of Seattle’s Technology Matching Fund which funded this civic engagement project, students had the opportunity to visit many places including the Seattle Times, University of Washington, sports events, community events, and many more. For more information about Awareness & Recovery Institute, please visit their website at: http://www.runtanews.com/category/youth/. — Submitted by Mohamud Yussuf, executive director.