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 […]
All posts by Ali Sardar
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Unspoken Truths: Young People in Recovery
Text and Video by Roger Newton Youth Today spoke to six young people July 2 at the 2015 International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Atlanta, asking them a series of personal questions about alcoholism and […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Text by Ellen Kennerly | Photos by Kara Khan It’s easier to get a gun than a textbook in New Orleans, America’s murder capital. ‘Shell-Shocked’ — a movie filled with violence, death and schoolroom chaos […]
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 […]
Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by Daniel Shea A while back I sat down to listen to a radio special on Chicago public schools and was blown away by what I heard. In a […]
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 […]
Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by AS220 Students, Rhode Island Training School I suppose the primary difference between a bedroom and a cell is the side of the door the lock is on … […]
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 […]
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 […]
Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by Project HOPE Art Youth Participants After finishing up a gardening project in November 2010 in New Orleans’ 9th ward, Melissa Schilling, a photographer with a master’s degree in […]
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 […]
Text by Katy McCarthy | Photos by Elicia Epstein Remember how good it felt to be young with a ball clasped in your hands? How cool it felt to be in the center, shouted at […]
Text by Meral Agish | Photos by Kara Khan and Meral Agish NEW YORK — A woman pulls out a letter she has written to her younger self and dedicated to her daughter. The advice is […]
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, […]
Collaborative Project by Shaddi Abusaid, Daniela Duron, Elizabeth Keener, Roger Newton and Lindsay Walker Lindsay Curio sits on the porch of her family’s trailer. It’s a crisp, cool November morning, and the leaves on the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]