VOX ATL: Giving Teens A Voice

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier that schools may restrict what is published in student newspapers.

Youth Perspective: VOX ATL teen staff members get on-the-job training in journalism.

Inspired by that case, in 1993 Rachel Alterman Wallack created VOX ATL, a newspaper printed for and by teenagers. Also known as VOX Teen Communications, it has evolved into a leading Atlanta-based youth development organization.

“Our original intention was to unite teens from across Metro Atlanta in creating a platform for youth voices, for teens to connect with each other meaningfully while feeling seen and heard, and to inform our community at large about youth perspectives on topics the teens prioritized,” she says.

Through fellowships, summer camps and workshops, the teens study all aspects of storytelling in a supportive environment with guidance from veteran journalists.

“We say we’re uncensored, but edited,” says Executive Director Charaun Cash. “We give teens a safe space to be their authentic selves while learning and growing.”

During the 2022-23 school year, VOX ATL’s teen staff comprised 82 students from 32 schools. Their publication reaches 30,000 print readers and a digital audience of 217,000. As journalism has evolved, so has VOX ATL.

“We started before there was social media,” Cash says. “Now we study digital storytelling, videography, podcasting, poetry, you name it.”

Adds senior editor Richard Eldredge, “The teens in our program have gone on to create their own nonprofits [and] PR businesses, become filmmakers, comics creators, animators and report for the likes of Forbes, Teen Vogue and Essence. It’s incredibly gratifying to see these young people take the tools they learned at VOX and then go out and use them to make the world a better place. Journalism jobs don’t get more inspirational than this.”