A little bit about myself: I'm a first year college student in Central Ohio but from the Cleveland area. I have career interests in Marketing Communications and of course Urban Planning. I used my interests in communications and planning to start an online magazine for Northeast Ohio youth during my ninth/tenth grade years of high school. I got funding from the Cleveland Civic Innovation Lab and was even in/on the news and at different events tirelessly promoting my project. It didn't take off and after almost three years and turning it into a blog, my website is sitting there and getting NO love. I've only had two contributors that I could count on might I add. Since I've started college, I've given up on it for a while. I am not one to give up completely and am trying to take an alternative route. Plug: http://www.back-talk.org .

 

My website is basically general interest. Area high school and college students can submit anything (within reason) about any topic (within reason). I also find local events that would interest my age group to get them out of their neighborhoods and exploring the coolness of the region. I hope to relaunch the site in 2008 and would like to have a more defined focus:

 

-More area specific: Focus on area (especially locally-owned) stores, restaurants, and places in general. Focus on musicians from or coming to the area. Focus on area politics and youth issues. I'm thinking Free Times for the younger set.

 

-I also wish that more people my age knew about the development projects. I know of tons in inner city Cleveland alone and could probably find some more for Akron, Lorain, Youngstown, and Canton. If they knew of the things going on they might not think the area is so boring and devoid of life.

 

-I want youth to get ACTIVELY involved in community development and telling their views. What do inner city Cleveland youth want to see differently in their neighborhoods and schools that would make them more livable? What's life like for a farm kid in the rural parts of the region? What styles are hot and which ones aren't in Northeast Ohio?

 

I don't want to just showcase the area and talk about how perfect it is...it is not perfect and we need to address the issues if we want change. Esp. those of the youth.

 

I need some ideas from you all because I don't want BackTalk to flop again.

I know this isn't a high school or college aged dominated forum but does anyone have any comments or suggestions?  :?

Welcome to UrbanOhio tinkerbelle.  It sounds like you have alot of great ideas here.  I would suggest that you might need to focus down onto one or two very specific things, especially if it is just you.  Perhaps you would just want to focus on news and entertainment, for example, and come back to more serious stuff like youth civic engagement once you have a bit of a following.  Even that is pretty broad- you may find it makes some sense to focus in on just local youth musicians/artists/whatever and give a platform to those who aren't being covered yet by the larger outlets.  If you narrow your focus like that, it will allow you to go into more depth and find a niche.

Welcome to UrbanOhio tinkerbelle.  It sounds like you have alot of great ideas here.  I would suggest that you might need to focus down onto one or two very specific things, especially if it is just you.  Perhaps you would just want to focus on news and entertainment, for example, and come back to more serious stuff like youth civic engagement once you have a bit of a following.  Even that is pretty broad- you may find it makes some sense to focus in on just local youth musicians/artists/whatever and give a platform to those who aren't being covered yet by the larger outlets.  If you narrow your focus like that, it will allow you to go into more depth and find a niche.

 

Thanks  :-)!

 

Hmmm, perhaps I am trying to do too many things at once. I never really thought about it but it seems like it would be a good idea to narrow things down...

 

tinkerbelle,

 

What have you done in the way of advertising/getting the word out?

 

Well...

 

I've been featured on local news twice, met with 96.5 KISS FM and some cheerleaders from a local high school that were there (unfortunately I didn't get a shout out on 96.5 but I did get to pass out flyers), wrote and called about 12 area schools...twice, passed out flyers at a Cool Cleveland party (in case the people had younger siblings or kids that they could give flyers to), posted the link on the Cleveland/Akron forums on a youth site called Tremor.com, passed out flyers to kids that were involved in the Cleveland Brain Gain program, called people at alternative newsweeklies (Call & Post, Free Times, Scene) and sent them press releases, Myspace/Facebook groups. When the magazine first launched I planned on giving away tickets to a concert and called three radio stations that people my age listen to a lot. None of them helped and I ended up going to the show with friends because no one knew I was giving away tickets (it was a GREAT show with great seats...people missed out...too bad for them). I might be forgetting some stuff.

 

In a nutshell, a lot.

 

I think I agree with older people: People my age can be apathetic. 

 

It's not just people your age - unfortunately people in general are a combination of apathetic or busy and it leaves very little time for "extras". Just an example - when we first discussed having a forum "happy hour" meet, dozens of people said "yeah, that'll be great!". While I'm glad and grateful for the people who DID show up, it's never been more than six to eight. It's frustrating because so often people complain about a lack of social outlets, yet when one is available they don't take advantage of it. So believe me, I feel your pain and I sometimes think "why bother?".  :|

 

I think what you're doing is great but as stated earlier, it's pretty ambitious. I would definitely recommend finding certain core elements to focus on and then add more as your site/project develop. Dealing with younger folks and trying to get them involved is probably like trying to herd cats. Once you can get a few people involved in specific areas, it might be easier to grow from their input.

tinkerbelle,

 

I only asked because a lot of times people put something together and expect it to be an instant success, without much work on their part.  I see it all the time with blogs.

 

It sounds like you've done quite a lot, and I'm not sure there's anything I could add to help.  I was going to suggest advertising, sponsoring, or passing handbills at high school/college sporting events and maybe taking out some ads in high school yearbooks.  But these are only avenues similar to what you've been doing.

 

I wish you luck - hang in there.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

*looks at Urban Ohio* I wonder what would happen if I made it into a forum? I'm good at starting a mass of random topics. Then I just wait for people to reply.

 

What I really need to do is start a social networking site. People my age LIVE on networking sites.

If you decide to go with a forum format, it's imperative that you be able to devote time to moderating it. Ask me how I know ;-)

I'd personally like someone to address the issue of younger believing "there's nothing to do" in Cleveland, but without sounding like they're trying too hard. 

 

Cool Cleveland, Brain Gain, Come Home to Cleveland are really good honest efforts at solving problems, but I think sometimes the rhetoric they use put off some people. Out of all the websites and initiatives out there, I think this is one of the best: http://www.college360.org/.

 

Maybe like a more simple version of College 360 geared towards teenagers would be a good idea.  You could break it down into categories like Entertainment, Activism, Culture, Urban Development

I'd personally like someone to address the issue of younger believing "there's nothing to do" in Cleveland, but without sounding like they're trying too hard. 

 

That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

 

I wish NEO had something raw like Youth Outlook (http://www.youthoutlook.org).