New Mexico’s Premiere Youth Media Project
New Mexico’s history of colonization, genocide, and inequity are tied to today’s resistance, resilience, and liberation. We, as New Mexicans, know our future is dependent on how well we honor and navigate past and present conditions. This truth sparks our vision at Generation Justice to raise underrepresented voices, to heal from internalized wounds, to lift up narratives of hope and inspiration that build pathways to equity and leadership.
-Roberta Rael, Generation Justice Director & Founder
GJ is a multiracial, multicultural project that trains youth to harness the power of community and raise critical consciousness through leadership development, civic engagement, media production and narrative shift in the areas that most impact New Mexicans- racial justice, health, education, early childhood development, and economic security. GJ’s mission is to inspire youth to become multidimensional leaders who are committed to social transformation. In New Mexico, Generation Justice has been recognized as the premier youth media and leadership group, and locally and nationally, has been the recipient of numerous awards.
In 2018, GJ served 425 organizations, through over 172 activities, training, multi-media productions (this includes 52 radio productions/157 segments) and local and national campaigns. Additionally, 25-42 GJ youth received anywhere from 15-385 hours of hands-on training in all areas of GJ’s capacity building efforts.
Established in 2005, GJ uses a positive youth development approach to facilitate social change, leadership development, and media justice. Through the domains of racial equity, civic engagement, media literacy, academic achievement, and career development, young people build skills and agency to speak, act, create, and stand against structural racism and systemic and internalized oppression. Through its strategies, Generation Justice is developing a future wave of New Mexico leaders who harness the power of community and, in time, shift the future of leadership of New Mexico.
The six core values of Generation Justice
- Multiculturalism
- Equity
- Youth Leadership & Empowerment
- Community
- Love
- Action
Generation Justice provides the following:
- Premium journalism training through weekly radio broadcasting classes, video production, and blogging is combined with a love of self and community, media/social justice, critical thinking to produce quality narratives that represent New Mexico.
- A commitment to race equity by bringing together youth from many different social, racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds.
- An enriched intergenerational environment that nurtures positive youth-adult partnerships.
- Media Literacy and Media Justice training for youth and adults to critically examine information
- Journalism training in all areas and networking with journalists nationally.
- An equity narrative on important issues.
Youth leaders who continue to live GJ’s mission and now are working in Journalism, Digital Organizing & Campaigns, Education, Social Service. Other GJ Alums are in college or grad programs studying in these fields and many others. Several GJ youth have taken the path of healing, arts, and culture. All have carried the lessons of GJ, decolonization, and equity with them.
By the Numbers
“Our hope is to build a community of informed, educated, skilled, engaged citizens who will not hesitate to use the power of media as a tool for social justice.”