Reviving the Revolution: Teen Summit 2.0 and the Communiversity Model for Youth Civic Engagement Through Public Media

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 11:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: Division J Section 6: Roundtable 5

Abstract

The "Communiversity through Public Media" (CPM) is a model for reviving BET's influential Teen-Summit in a university setting. Teen-Summit (1989-2002) successfully combined Hip-Hop culture with civic engagement to create meaningful programming for Black teens globally. This CPM model proposes leveraging public media stations housed at universities for Teen-Summit 2.0 across multiple digital platforms where today's teens engage. The model draws from 1960s HBCU traditions that integrated community knowledge with academic research. The new model proposes university departments collaborate with public media to create civically engaged content while conducting real-time research on youth civic development through sentiment analysis. Workshop participants will explore this theoretical framework, implementation strategies, and provide feedback on expanding public media's role in youth civic education beyond traditional broadcasting.

Author

• Malaika McKee, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign