by Shannon Curley

There tends to be a stigma about young people that they don’t get involved, that they don’t care or can’t be bothered. If it doesn’t involve the newest version of the i-Phone or Britney’s latest scandal they aren’t interested.

With this in mind, Philadelphia’s budget cuts would seem like the least likely thing for a group of high school and college students to sink their teeth into, but that’s exactly what about 25 young people did.

When they heard about the budget cuts Mayor Michael Nutter was planning, they decided to get involved. The group, which calls itself V-MEDIA (from VOICES-MEDIA), is part of a Leadership Corps of a youth outreach program sponsored by Temple University. They started going to the town hall meetings, videotaping them, and interviewing people about their reactions to the cuts.

They put all of this on a blog called Feelin’ the Cuts: The Real Impact of the Philadelphia Budget Cuts on Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, which is geared toward educating young people about the budget issues and how everyone will be affected.

The blog includes interviews from everyone from a former mayoral candidate to the homecoming king and queen of South Philly High. There are also links to online articles and blog posts to help readers “get a handle on what’s happening, what others are doing about it, and how you can get involved.”

V-MEDIA is part of the University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia (UCCP) at Temple University. They serve as mentors for UCCP’s VOICES program where 52 area high school students in after-school and internship programs come to learn how to make themselves heard, primarily through the media.

Shannon Curley is an intern for It’s Our City. She is a senior at La Salle University in Philadelphia.