This fall, On the Ground Battle Creek will bring you Calhoun County youth's perspective on their communities, as told through their own writing, art, and photos.

Through a program called Voices of Youth, we will be working with local youth to create content on the issues that are important to them, as well as deploying adult journalists to interview youth on those issues.

We currently are seeking young people who will be the heart of this program. They will attend three workshops to learn about solutions journalism, the type of reporting featured by On the Ground Battle Creek.

Young people will be invited to identify issues of interest and during the workshops they will be introduced to ways to use writing, art, and social media to cover those issues in their communities. The stories will then be published in Second Wave, the home of On the Ground Battle Creek.

The youth will be paid for their efforts, just as our professional journalists are. In addition to their work, we'll also run stories by adult journalists, featuring youth sources discussing the topics identified in our listening session.

To register for the program please click here. An informational session will take place Nov. 1 at First Congregational Church at 3:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church, 145 Capital Ave NE, Battle Creek and available online.

Voices of Youth, which had a pilot program earlier this year, is made possible through the support of these community partners: Battle Creek Community Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, City of Battle Creek, and the Binda Foundation.