an opportunity to participate in public radio's only nationally distributed LGBTQ youth program
Local youth sought for nationally-distributed public radio program
Participation can be life-changing
Media for the Public Good, Inc. (MFPG), a Westchester-based nonprofit organization, is seeking young people to participate in the ongoing production of OutCasting, public radio's only nationally-distributed LGBTQ+ youth program.
LGBTQ+ youth (closeted or out) and straight allies are invited to apply.
Participation gives powerful experiences to young people in exploring LGBTQ issues and sharing those explorations with audiences online and on 200 public radio stations across the country. It provides a rare set of skills that greatly enhances college and job applications. It gives them a setting for more fully accepting their LGBTQ identities or discovering that being a straight ally is much more than just not opposing equality for LGBTQ people. For some, participation in OutCasting has been life-changing.
OutCasting has been selected for inclusion in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting and the Library of Congress. Working substantively on a program that has achieved this prestigious recognition can elevate college and job applications even further.
Students from more than 20 schools in Westchester and Rockland have participated during the 11 years OutCasting has been in production.
High school and college students may apply at
https://OutCastingMedia.org/apply
Middle school students may be considered on a case-by-case basis. All participants must be within driving distance of our studio in southern Westchester and must be able to attend once-per-week production sessions.
Further information for educators, parents, and other adults is available at
https://OutCastingMedia.org/schools
MFPG / OutCasting is headed by Marc Sophos, a longtime broadcast creator who grew up in Dobbs Ferry. When he was in ninth grade in 1973, he led an effort to start a radio station at Dobbs Ferry High School. Although the effort secured approval and funding from the Board of Education, the proposed station didn't materialize because a subsequent engineering study revealed that the FM dial in the NYC area was already saturated and there was no available frequency in Dobbs Ferry. Marc continued his effort to get a new FM station into Westchester, and this eventually led to the establishment of WDFH Westchester Public Radio -- which became possible only by moving the station north to Ossining and thus farther away from NYC.
Marc established OutCasting as a local program at WDFH in 2011 and arranged for national distribution on public radio before WDFH signed off in 2013. In recognition of his pioneering work on OutCasting, Marc has received an AARP Purpose Prize Fellowship and a GLSEN Hudson Valley Adult Leadership Award.
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