All posts by Ali Sardar


Bokeh Focus Remodeled … Now Bolder & Modern


WELCOME TO BOKEH FOCUS! Youth Photos, Youth Focus: A platform for professional, amateur, and youth photographers to showcase photography, photojournalism and art about youth around the world and juvenile justice in the United States. At […]

Kids Compete, Learn in Juvenile Justice Jeopardy Game


Text and Photos by Ali Sardar Spending a Saturday morning in a classroom is not something most kids want to do. So why did 110 kids between 9 and 17 years old in Lawrenceville, Georgia, […]

Rally Held to Support Jessica Colotl’s Immigration Fight to Keep Dreamer Status


Text and Photos by Ali Sardar ATLANTA — Advocacy groups and protesters rallied this weekend downtown in support of Jessica Colotl, whose Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status was recently revoked. Her story made headlines […]

Community-based Organization Battles Chronic Absenteeism in Queens


Text and Photos by Becky Holladay “Good morning, Love Bugs, it’s a beautiful day!” Meaghan Holley sang through the door of an apartment. “Psych. It’s actually really gross out. But we still have to get up and […]

Nonprofit Art School Helps Youth Thrive in Skid Row, Los Angeles


Text and Photos by Sean Myers LOS ANGELES — Nestled among nondescript warehouses and infamous streets, Inner-City Arts in downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row is an oasis for artistic growth and self-exploration that serves more than 8,000 students […]

Young People Protest U.S. Election in New York, Washington, Nationwide


Text by Karen Savage | Photos by Devin Khan NEW YORK — Chants of “not my president” and “love trumps hate” filled the air as thousands of young people stood shoulder to shoulder Wednesday night, filling […]

Violence by Police, Against Police Risks Tearing Country Further Apart


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Karen Savage and Marco Poggio NEW YORK — Gavin Long was not among the peaceful crowds on July 10, the week before he savagely murdered three Baton Rouge […]

Searching for a Solution Where ‘Fear and Weapons Meet’


Text and Photos by Rebecca White NEW YORK — “And I soon gathered that being perceived as dangerous is a hazard in itself. I only needed to turn a corner into a dicey situation, or […]

Broken Promises, Broken Lives


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik The mostly black electorate of Baltimore elected a white candidate to be the next mayor in 1999. My editor at The Boston Globe asked me to […]

A Tale of Two Cities


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik “Government must focus on the needs of families, must be the protector of neighborhoods and must guard the people from the enormous power of monied interests. […]

Young, LGBTQ and Homeless


Text and Photos by Patricia Chourio Mick was 17 when his parents kicked him out of their Minneapolis house for being gay. He spent months couch surfing and sleeping in homeless shelters. Shortly after, he […]

Homeless After Class


Text and Photos by Patricia Chourio The third week of the semester at Kennesaw State University, while many students were concerned about parking or trying to avoid long lines to get their books, Jalyn was […]

A Funeral in Ferguson


Text by James Pound | Photos by Robert Stolarik A calm returns to Ferguson as the city quietly seeks answers and mourns the loss of Michael Brown, the unarmed teen that was shot and killed […]

Celebrating Peace in a Community Touched By Gun Violence


Text and Photos by Laura Bult NEW YORK — At a children’s summer party last Saturday afternoon at the Redfern Houses in Far Rockaway, Penny Wrencher made an introduction between two friends. She knew they […]

West Harlem Gang Raid


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik NEW YORK — Whenever LaQuint Singleton found himself about to get into a fight out in the courtyards or in the small playground in front of […]

Police Brutality in the Bronx


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik UPDATE: ‘Prominent Lawyer Takes Case of Bronx Boy Allegedly Pushed Through Window by Police’ NEW YORK — The 14-year-old boy sat on the stoop of Hookah […]

REFLECT: Convicts’ Letters to Their Younger Selves


Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by Trent Bell Early in 2013, photographer Trent Bell found out that a friend — a father and professional — had been sentenced to 36 years in prison. It […]

Execution of a 14-Year-Old


Text by Corey Hutchins | Photos by Sean Rayford This story was also published by the Center for Public Integrity. ALCOLU, S.C.– A few miles off I-95, past acres of brown-and-white fields where blackbirds circle overhead, […]

The Walls Come Crumbling Down


Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by Andrew Wilkinson It was difficult enough to harness my limited focus in High School with sturdy walls around me. I did my learning at New Technology High, a […]

The Anonymous People


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — On a recent grey Saturday morning, a quiet fell over the sparse audience seated in a vocational school assembly hall as Kimberly […]

The Kids for Cash Scandal


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — After a few beers one evening in the mid-1960s, Mark Ciavarella, in high school at the time and applying the kind of inexplicable […]

Hurting in Harlem


Text by Daryl Khan | Photos by Robert Stolarik The killing of 18-year-old Tayshana Murphy on an early morning in 2011 has led to a series of retaliatory beatings, stabbings and shootings between the Manhattanville […]