Philippe Cousteau's EarthEcho International Brings Youth Citizen Journalism to New Orleans with Inaugural STREAM Event

-- Youth Initiative to Focus Ongoing Attention on Gulf Recovery in Wake of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster --

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- EarthEcho International (www.earthecho.org), a leading environmental education nonprofit, today announced plans to launch its first STREAM (STudents Reporting Environmental Action through Media) youth citizen journalist bureau in the Gulf region.  STREAM will kick-off with a training workshop in New Orleans on December 1-2, 2010.

Unveiled this September at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI)'s Sixth Annual meeting, the program provides students with the training and resources to bring national attention to important stories of environmental and human impact in their own communities. The New Orleans STREAM workshop will be held at the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, where 40 middle and high school students and their teachers from communities in Louisiana and Alabama will receive hands-on training and coaching from leading journalists, environmental experts, service-learning professionals, and EarthEcho Co-Founder and CEO Philippe Cousteau, Jr.

"The continuing aftermath of the Gulf oil disaster underscores the critical need for real-time reporting and local perspectives in highlighting the important events and stories impacting our planet and life in our own backyards," said Cousteau.  "The insights and experiences of youth in Gulf communities are an ideal starting point for STREAM's mission to give young people everywhere a voice in shaping the future of our world."

The two-day workshop will walk teams of students and educators through the stages of service-learning as they explore the concept of citizen journalism and learn skill-building techniques on topics such as sourcing subjects, interviewing, writing, editing, and the use of technology in telling their stories.  Students will complete the workshop by sharing their finished media pieces on www.earthecho.org/STREAM. Students and educators from Edna Karr High School, Mount Carmel Academy and Isidore Newman Middle School in New Orleans and Louisiana State University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge will attend from Louisiana. Alabama schools will include Gulf Shores Middle School and Gulf Shores High School, as well as Alma Bryant High School from Irvington and Peter F. Alba Middle School from Bayou La Batre.

An impressive list of partners are joining EarthEcho in support of STREAM's launch, including the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Louisiana Serve Commission, Mobile Baykeeper, Singing for Change, Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), The Wallace Global Fund, and Waterkeeper Alliance.

About STREAM:

STREAM provides students, educators, and community leaders with the resources they need to establish youth-focused citizen journalism bureaus in their own communities. STREAM's resources and tools include:

• A multi-media digital publishing platform for student journalist stories;
• Professional development resources for youth citizen journalists, including downloadable guides, instructional videos, and on-line workshops;
• In-person training workshops with industry professionals and leadership programs for youth in the field of environmental journalism; and
• The establishment of the youth citizen journalism "news bureaus" in multiple markets across the country.

For more information about EarthEcho International, visit http://www.earthecho.org.  

SOURCE EarthEcho International