How is L.A. Youth put together?
It starts with the staff meeting. Teens, whether they hear from a friend or answer the L.A. Youth ad asking for journalists, come for Saturday afternoon staff meetings. From 1 to 3 p.m. they’ll discuss story ideas, write headlines, vote on essays and choose stories. But the most valuable thing is the discussion about whatever comes up.

Teens from the San Fernando Valley can learn what teens from the inner city or the San Gabriel Valley or Beverly Hills think about student issues. While they learn that their experiences are very different, they also realize that they are all just students struggling at times with teachers, tests, friends and family. They share ideas concerning everything from teen rights and girls who sleep with men three times their age to school issues and places where teens can go out at night. Often when they leave the meeting those discussions will have become the starting point for a great story.

During the next few months the teen staff members get advice while they write their articles. It is, at times, very hard work. Then the stories are edited, revised and revised again. Meanwhile, our artists and photographers are busy working on what images and illustrations will best serve the story.

When the stories are done, they are laid out on iMacs, using Adobe InDesign. After that the pages are transmitted electronically to the Los Angeles Times’ plant in Irwindale, where all 70,000 copies of the newspaper are printed. Once the papers are bundled, they are divided into boxes and bags, labeled and shipped to schools by the Los Angeles Times.

How do I subscribe to L.A. Youth?
Subscriptions are free to teachers in Los Angeles County, just call (323) 938-9194. If you are a group outside the Los Angeles County area and would like L.A. Youth, please call (323) 938-9194 for a rate.

Subscriptions are available to non-profit agencies in most of Los Angeles County for $60 a year.

To get a single-copy subscription through the mail, send $15 for one-year (six issues) to: Circulation Dept., L.A. YOUTH, 5967 W. Third Street, Suite 301, Los Angeles CA 90036. Provide name, school (if applicable), address, zip code AND e-mail address.

How is L.A. Youth distributed?
L.A. Youth is delivered directly to more than 1,000 teachers in schools and youth organizations in Los Angeles County.