Radio Rookies: Justice, Policing and Community Safety
A series I developed and produced for Radio Rookies, WNYC’s youth media and education program. I worked alongside five young New Yorkers from Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx to explore complex issues through personal storytelling and uplift their perspectives on race, policing and community safety a year after the killing of George Floyd. I helped students situate their lived experiences within broader systems and worked with them every step of the way to help them synthesize their thoughts, interview people and develop audio scripts. Once our stories aired, I pitched them to The Takeaway and The Brian Lehrer Show, securing national and local coverage of the project.
How a secretive police database affects young Black and brown men
The NYPD “gang database” is a secretive list of thousands of people the NYPD has labeled as gang members. Police officials say the list helps them stop violence. Critics say it’s another way to surveil and harass Black and Latino communities.
Rainier Harris first learned about the database three years ago — and he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it. In this installment of Radio Rookies, Rainier explores how young people end up on this list and how it can affect their lives.
Taking a restorative approach to youth justice
Before starting an internship with the Center for Court Innovation, Deborah Ugo-Omenukwa had never heard of restorative justice — a process that allows people to take responsibility for their actions, confront the harm they’ve caused and try to repair it.
But the more she learned about restorative justice, the more she started to see flaws in the larger legal system. In this installment of Radio Rookies, Deborah brings us stories from one restorative justice program in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Imagining a world without police
In this installment of Radio Rookies, Kayla Ollivierre shares a deeply personal childhood story: While witnessing a domestic violence incident in her home, Kayla called 911 for help. But that first interaction with police left her feeling ignored and disappointed.
Several years later, police killed George Floyd and Ma’Khia Bryant. Kayla decided she was ready to imagine a world without police. But what would that world look like? To find answers to her questions, Kayla speaks with lawyer and writer Derecka Purnell about police abolition.
Finding ways to feel safe as a young Black girl in America
When Betsy-Jane Paul-Odionhin moved to Queens from Nigeria, she expected the United States to be better in every way. But instead, she lost all sense of safety.
In this installment of Radio Rookies, Betsy-Jane explores identity and what it means to feel safe — or not safe — as a young Black girl growing up in America.
A journey to reconnect with an incarcerated father
Radio Rookie Folashade Olatunde’s dad went to prison when she was two years old. She used to go visit him all the time with her mom. Until her parents got divorced. Now, it’s been more than a decade since she saw her father. In this installment of Radio Rookies, Folashade shares a series of open and honest audio diaries and invites listeners on her journey to rebuild her relationship with her dad. (This is an eight-minute version of this piece, an expanded and award-winning 18-minute version is available here.)
Press coverage →
NPR’s The Takeaway: WNYC Airs New Class of Radio Rookie Stories
“WNYC’s youth radio initiative, Radio Rookies, is presenting its new season of stories this week. These young journalists are between the ages of ages 16 to 24 and have come from all over New York City. They’ve spent the past few months developing story ideas, learning interview skills and how to use audio equipment, and maybe most important of all – learning how to make a good story for the radio waves.
We speak with Carolina Hidalgo, producer of Radio Rookies and two Rookies themselves, Folashade Olatunde and Rainier Harris, about their stories and experiences working on those stories.”
The Brian Lehrer Show: A Radio Rookies Roundtable
“Betsy-Jane Paul-Odionhin, Folashade Olatunde and Kayla Ollivierre, student journalists in the WNYC Radio Rookies program, talk about their experiences reporting and telling their personal stories on issues of policing, the justice system, crime, public safety and all the big related issues.”