Cincinnati Public Radio (2)
1223 Central Parkway
Cincinnati, OH 45214
Democracy and Me
Democracy & Me is an Educational Outreach program developed and managed by Cincinnati Public Radio (dba WVXU). The program was launched in 2015 with the goal to help teachers teach the importance of journalism in our democracy and help students become informed citizens. As the program has grown, we’ve focused our efforts on engaging students with podcast production, essay competitions with small cash prizes, afternoon programs at the station. The program includes content about journalism, social justice and local government.
Program Goals:
Our goals for 2023 include:
Democracy & Me Blog: Dr. David Childs has been creating an average of 42 new blog posts for democracyandme.org every year. We are fortunate that he is also a presenter at many teacher events conferences and seminars throughout the year during which he highlights the resources available on Democracy & Me’s website.
Democracy & Me Intern and Democracy & Z Podcasts: We are very excited to welcome Yoshie Vinton as our new Democracy & Me intern. Yoshie is a junior at Sycamore High School, and she will be working 10-15 hours a week; she’s enthusiastic and has experience with podcasting through her school’s podcast camp and the NPR Student Podcast Challenge. She will be producing at least 5 new Democracy & Z podcasts. Yoshie will be reaching out to her fellow students to join her in working on podcasts about history, current events and political education. Political science students from UC will also be invited to participate. Each podcast will be 10-15 minutes long and they will be completed by May of 2023. We will promote the podcasts on the Democracy & Me and WVXU social media accounts and on WVXU.
Student Voices Competition 2023: Our Student Voices Competition has grown exponentially; we hope to have 130 entries by April 2023. To ensure participation, we’re partnering with History and Government teachers at Cincinnati Public Schools. This year’s prompt: “Each generation believes that they will make a positive change to the world that has been shaped by the decisions of previous generations. The 'American Dream' changes drastically as the world around us changes. This belief in change drives us to look at the past with a more critical lens and dictates our priorities and goals moving forward. We want you to use your voice to highlight the current generation’s hopes and dreams for the future. What kind of world do you want to create for future generations? How do you fit into making this dream a reality?” The contest is open to students in grades 8-12, and prizes will be given for best essay, best creative entry, and outstanding runner-up plus a small cash prize will go to a randomly selected teacher with students who participate.
Student Voices Showcase for Top Applicants: The Student Voices contest helps us raise awareness for the program in schools and this Student Showcase allows schools and families to be able to recognize students’ work on their contest entries. This May, we will host this in-person event for the top applicants and the scholarship winners will be announced at the end of the event. We expect about 20 presentations and will use this content on the democracyandme.org website.
Democracy & Me Digital Leadership Days: CPR will host 3 Digital Leadership Days (April, September and December) during which we will invite 15-20 students to the station. CPR staff members will lead activities about podcasting, journalism and news. We are partnering with Girl Scouts and Cincinnati Public Schools for these events.
Martin Luther King Jr Day Speech Competition: Democracy & Me hosted its first competition in January 2023 and 14 students participated through Ellevated Excellence. The students and teachers were enthusiastic, so we plan to invite additional charter schools (DAMPE, TCP World Academy, Horizon Academy) to participate during the next round. The winner will receive $200, and their speech will air twice on WVXU on MLK Day. There are additional prizes for second and third place.
Democracy & Me Field Trip to City Hall and UC’s School of Public Affairs: This one-day field trip is designed to show inner city students behind the scenes of local government so they can imagine themselves becoming a part of it someday. Students will take a tour of City Hall to learn more about local government and participate in a simulated council meeting. They will then head to UC to tour the School of Public and International Affairs to sit in on a college level lecture and meet with students to learn about their goals after college. Our Program Coordinator Kahvah Whittaker is working with City Hall Tour Guide, Connie Roesh to lead the activities at City Hall. And UC Program Coordinator Bethany Stoller will manage the classroom visits at UC.
Cincinnati Public Radio is proud to promote this program and will air a minimum of 400 spots promoting Democracy & Me on throughout the year. We will acknowledge the Charles H. Dater Foundation as the sponsor.
Program Results:
Democracy & Me City Hall Field Trip - On November 28, 2023, Democracy & Me hosted 40 students from two Cincinnati Public Schools: Roselawn Condon and Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies. The students participated in a day filled with activity beginning at Cincinnati City Hall. They toured City Hall and participated in a mock council meeting followed by a Q&A with council member Liz Keating. The students also had the opportunity to meet Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney and council member Scotty Johnson. Next, the group visited the CPR studios, where lunch was served during the Q&A discussion with WVXU Reporters Zach Carreon and Becca Costello. The students participated in a lively discussion on journalism and storytelling and ended the day with a tour of the studios. Mrs. Kelley Bagayoko, Principal of AMIS, said she was so thankful for this opportunity and hopes we can build a lasting partnership between Democracy & Me and her school.
New D&Z Podcasts - Democracy and Me Intern, Yoshie Vinton has been able to gain experience as the Democracy & Z host. Yoshie has taken on the responsibility of thinking of relevant topics for the podcasts, creating thoughtful interview questions, as well as handling editing postproduction. So far, these podcasts have been uploaded to the Democracy & Me website:
Women’s History Part 1 & 2
A Chat with Mr. Filip Vanden Bulcke, the Belgian Consul in New York
Democracy 7 Me Presents: Pride Month
Democracy & Me Welcoming Little Amal
College Diaries Part 1 & 2
Israel Gaza War with Dr. Nathan French from Miami University
Traveling with Rick Steves
Digital Leadership Workshops - Digital Leadership Days began as a partnership with Girl Scouts of Southern Ohio. Democracy & Me hosted field trips for girl scout troops in exchange for being a media partner in larger Girl Scouts events such as the Believe in Girls Expo in June. On January 28, 2023, 12 girl scouts participated in Democracy & Me’s first Digital Leadership Day. The day began with a Q & A session with Maryanne Zeleznik and Becca Costello from WVXU’s Newsroom, where the girls learned about public radio and careers in journalism. The girls recorded short podcasts on topics including fast fashion and the environment, COVID safety, social media and mental health, and student led initiatives and activism. Lastly, the girls worked on an activity where they learned to identify credible news sources. The girls received a tour of the studios and competed in a scavenger hunt where they were able to learn facts about Cincinnati Public Radio and Democracy & Me’s history. This format has now been replicated with other groups in September and October. In addition to the journalism and podcasting activities, the scouts have also been able to enter a continuation of the Student Voices Competition and submit writing pieces to be judged on the spot for a chance to win $25 gift cards.
MLK Day Speech Competition at Elevated Excellence Sports Academy in honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. - Students in grades 5-8 at Elevated Excellence Academy participated in the inaugural Martin Luther King speech competition, sponsored by the Charles H. Dater Foundation. Students were asked to use Dr. King’s words as inspiration to create an original speech on a current issue that they feel passionately about. Violence, discrimination, environmental justice, and knowing when to stand up for what is right, were topics students chose to highlight in their speeches. Congratulations to first place winner Kamea Hollandsworth who took home the $200 grand prize! Kamea’s speech aired twice on WVXU on Martin Luther King Day. And congratulations to the 2nd place winner, 7th grader Dariyah Jacobs and 3rd place winner Kaiden Jenkins, who is in the 5th grade. “In my own words, discrimination means treating some people differently from others. After all, people are paid different paychecks depending on their race and work type.” –Kamea Hollandsworth, grade 6
Student Voices Competition Entries - Democracy & Me held its annual Student Voices Competition this past spring. This year’s prompt related to the “American Dream” and what future generations’ dreams will look like. The original contest drew in 67 entries, including essays, poems, art pieces, and spoken word. Students from all over the WVXU listening area were welcome to enter. We saw a great number of entries come from Aiken and Talawanda High School but also had an entry come all the way from Korea! This summer, we extended the contest to students participating in our partnership with Breakthrough Cincinnati. The students were enrolled in 5-week podcasting elective that Democracy & Me provided resources and activities for during the 5 weeks. At the end of the summer, the students were invited to the WVXU studios where they recorded their podcast and participated in a new iteration of the Student Voices Competition. Democracy & Me’s ongoing partnership with the Girl Scouts has allowed us to reach our goal of 130 entries to the Student Voices Competition. As a part of the Digital Leadership Days, we host for different troops, we have built in continuations of the contest where students respond to the prompt on the spot in essay or poem form and are eligible for cash prizes.
67 entries from main competition
42 from Breakthrough Cincinnati Career Day
6 from Girl Scouts Little Amal Day
15 from Girl Scouts Digital Leadership Day: Women in Media
Students from across the WVXU listening area and beyond responded to this year’s Democracy & Me Student Voices Competition prompt with their hopes and dreams for the future. Students were asked to look critically at what the “American Dream” has historically been interpreted and consider how their own goals fit into the future of America and the world we are creating. Walnut Hills High School sophomore, Audrey Symon, earned $1,000 for her poem that focused on the importance of listening to and empathizing with others’ experiences. Her interest in science and biology heavily influenced her creative usage of imagery throughout the poem. “I am also very passionate about biology, so the use of biological imagery throughout the poem to both express the human listening process and the neurology behind empathy, aims to further accentuate my point.” The judges were immediately blown away by a linoleum cut created by Cincinnati Waldorf
School’s Lola Stone. Lola also won $1000 for her art entry titled “No Forbidden Fruit”. “My
American dream is to live in a world where no fruit is forbidden. Whether that fruit for you is actual food, a family, education, support etc., everybody should have equal opportunities to get the “fruit” they want and need.”
Student Voices Showcase - On July 21, 2023, Democracy & Me hosted its first Career Day in collaboration with Breakthrough Cincinnati. This event served as a final project for D & Me’s involvement in Breakthrough’s podcasting elective this summer. Thirty-six rising seventh graders visited our studios where they participated in an array of educational activities including: a tour of the building, a scavenger hunt, an interviewing activity where they listened to a student submission to the NPR student podcast competition and reverse engineered interview questions, time to record their own podcasts along with a lesson in sound engineering with Derrick Smith, and finally a short writing competition. The writing competition at the end of the day was a continuation of the Student Voices Competition. Students had the option to work individually or in groups. The top two entries took home $100 gift cards. During the lunch hour, the students were joined by WVXU reporters Becca Costello and Zach Carreon and Chief Engineer, Will Staffan for a career day Q&A. Breakthrough Cincinnati Program Director, Elana Elmore, had this to say about the field trip, “This was the most engagement that we have seen for a Career Day! I think the kids got a lot out of it. Thanks so much to you and your team!”
Dr. Childs Events – Dr. Childs promoted the Democracy & Me program at the following in-person events:
Cinti NAACP Presentation Feb-23 (30 attendees)
Middletown NAAC Presentation Feb-23 (150 attendees)
NKY NAACP Presentation Feb 23 (50 attendees)
NKU Presentation Mar 23 (60 attendees)
Shawnee State Park Workshop June 23 (25 attendees)
Center - Black History (KY) Jul-23 (12 attendees)
NKU Presentation Sep-23 (75 attendees)
We posted 41 new Democracy & Me Blog posts; Dr. Childs created 23 of the 41 posts and our Educational Outreach Coordinator Kahvah Whittaker created 18 of them.
Howard Wilkinson (WVXU’s Senior Politics Reporter) mentors the Chatterbox newspaper staff/class at Walnut Hills – For years Howard has been meeting with young journalism students at Walnut Hills to guide them on stories, teach them about working in journalism and help them edit their work. He met with the class every month during the school year.
Democracy & Me Stats (Nov 2022 – Oct 2023)
Unique visitors at democracyandme.org 41,883
Page views at democracyandme.org 59,736
Democracy & Me email subscribers 594
Democracy & Me Twitter discontinued
D&Z Podcast Downloads 323
CPR aired 127 Democracy and Me Spots total, but aired an additional 383 Dater Foundation spots in 2023.
Website:
http://www.cinradio.org Amount: $75,000
Date: March 2023
