Our Model

Youth Praxis Model

Youth Praxis doesn't just report on problems—we investigate to build the power to solve them.

Traditional journalism documents injustice and moves on. We document injustice to create organizing tools that force change.

Our model collapses the distance between investigation and action. Every FOIA request is chosen for strategic value. Every community survey recruits potential testifiers. Every article is designed to pressure specific decision-makers. We don't only write for readers—we also write for organizers who need evidence they can deploy.

The Pipeline

Investigate → Produce Evidence → Coordinate with Coalition → Pressure Decision-Makers → Win Commitments

1. Investigate

We use traditional investigative methods—FOIA requests, data analysis, community surveys, expert interviews—but with organizing strategy driving every choice. We don't investigate what's interesting. We investigate what proves the pattern coalition partners need proven.

2. Produce Evidence

We create undeniable proof: precise statistics, systematic patterns, official documents, community testimony. Evidence strong enough that decision-makers can't dismiss it as anecdotal, biased, or incomplete. The investigation becomes testimony, the data becomes amendment language, the article becomes a hearing document.

3. Coordinate with Coalition

We share everything. Raw data, draft findings, publication timing, strategic framing. Coalition partners help shape investigations, review evidence, and plan how to deploy it. We facilitate coordination—ensuring 20+ organizations speak with unified evidence and aligned pressure.

4. Pressure Decision-Makers

Evidence goes directly to targets: aldermen, mayors, budget committees. Through testimony (community voices citing our data), constituent meetings (coalition partners bringing our reports), media coverage (journalists amplifying our findings), and public accountability (dashboards tracking who commits, who refuses).

5. Win Commitments

We don't stop at publication. We pressure until decision-makers commit—in writing, on record, with specifics. Budget amendments introduced. Funding restored. Policies changed. And we track every promise publicly so broken commitments become electoral liabilities.

What Makes This Different

Traditional Journalism:

• Documents problems → publishes → moves to next story
• Success = clicks, awards, attention
• Relationship to power: external observer
• Relationship to community: extract stories, provide platform

Youth Praxis Investigation as Organizing:

• Documents problems → organizes community → pressures power → wins change
• Success = amendments passed, commitments won, power built
• Relationship to power: strategic antagonist with specific demands
• Relationship to community: returns tools, builds capacity, shares credit

The shift: From journalism about injustice to journalism against injustice.

Why Youth Lead

Youth aren't sources—they're investigators. They design the research, conduct the surveys, analyze the data, write the findings, and make the strategic decisions about how evidence gets deployed.

This matters because:

• Lived expertise: Youth know what questions to ask, what data matters, what patterns exist
• Authentic voice: Youth testimony is more powerful than adult reporting on youth issues
• Power-building: Skills transfer—youth become organizers who can replicate this model
• Accountability: Youth hold adults and institutions accountable, not the other way around

Youth Praxis trains organizer-journalists: people who can investigate systems, document evidence, coordinate coalitions, and win concrete victories.

The Precedents

This model isn't experimental—it's been proven across the country with concrete policy and resource victories:

MLK50 (Memphis): Healthcare Justice

MLK50's investigation into predatory debt collection practices by Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare led to $12 million in medical debt erased for over 5,300 patients, expansion of charity care policies, and commitment to raise minimum wage to $15/hour for hospital's lowest-paid employees. Investigation directly produced economic policy change.

City Bureau (Chicago): Resident Power

City Bureau's Documenters Network trains and pays residents to monitor thousands of local government meetings, creating public accountability records. Their joint investigation with WBEZ on racial disparities in home lending forced Chase Bank to commit $600 million in new mortgage lending for Black and Latinx families, alongside city and state policy changes. Resident-led investigation produced corporate and government accountability.

Resolve Philadelphia: Community Strategy

Resolve Philly's collaborative gun violence investigations informed resource distribution, contributing to Philadelphia City Council and Mayor committing $346 million (FY22-FY23) to evidence-based anti-violence and community programs. Information equity enabled effective community action and resource allocation.

Young Invincibles (National): Youth Storytelling

Young Invincibles empowers young adults (18-34) to share lived experiences as political evidence. Their narrative-based advocacy won federal student health insurance protections, increased Pell Grant funding, and state-level grant aid expansions for low-income students. Youth voices as investigation produced policy victories.

Youth Praxis adapts this proven model specifically for youth exclusion and budget justice campaigns.