Youth Institute - Changing Technology Policy

What would it take to make Long Beach into a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity focused on Digital Media Arts?

Long Beach Community Foundation gathered a group of entrepreneurs, academics and others to talk about the digital convergence that is reshaping human activities all over the world. In a Press Telegram article, they talk about how most meetings like this at best generate an interesting discussion, but these participants are different. They don't just want change, they seem ready to create it. Instead of fading away after the last speech, they were abuzz with creating new relationships and a shared goal.

The Youth Institute alone could bring transformational change to Long Beach. Its participants have taken on projects both as volunteers and for a fee, which means that contributions and foundation grants to the program become not just a gift but an investment. Its graduates earn a certificate from Cal State Long Beach, enhanced prospects of a career and, importantly, develop an interest in education that might not have happened otherwise.

Bob Cabeza, an executive with the YMCA of Greater Long Beach, oversees a program called the Youth Institute that has trained hundreds of young students in the digital media, including video, animation, Web sites, magazine layout and photography. 

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