Wiretap magazine

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• Whats and Whos »
• Story and Vision »
• Constituency »
• Highlights »
• People Power »
• Trainings »
• Local Groups »
• Board »

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  Year Founded:

  1998
  

  Geographic Scope:

  National
  

  Street:

  222 Sutter Street
  

  Street2:

  6th Floor
  

  City:

  San Francisco
  

  State:

  CA
  

  Zip Code:

  94108
  

  Telephone:

  415-321-1763
  

  Fax:

  415-321-1701
  

  Email:

  kristina@wiretapmag.org
  

  Website:

  http://www.WiretapMag.org
  

  Legal Status:

  501(c)3 Non-Profit fiscally-sponsored project
  

  Stage of Development:

  Stable and evolving
  

  Budget 2007:

  100k - 250k
  

  Budget 2006:

  50k - 100K
  

  Budget 2005:

  25k - 50K
  

  Budget 2004:

  100k - 250k
  

  Budget 2003:

  100k - 250k
  

  Org Type:

  Media
  
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  Issues:

  Arts and Culture, Education / Students Rights, Electoral reform / voting, Environmental Justice, Hip Hop Activism, Housing / Gentrification, Human rights, Immigrant / Refugee rights, International solidarity, LGBTQ Rights, Labor / Economic Justice, Media, Multi-issue, Prison Industry / Policing / Drug policy, Racial Justice, Violence Prevention, Youth development
  

  Primary Activities:

  Media, Training, Youth development
  

  Mission:

  Wiretap is a national online news and culture magazine by and for socially conscious young people. Our magazine promotes social justice, inspires action and gives a new generation of writers, bloggers, activists, artists and students a voice in the media.
  
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  Org Start:

  Wiretap was founded by Alternet.org in 1998 to serve as a leading national communications platform where the momentum, energy, and civic engagement among socially conscious young people build around specific actions and ideas. Students, young activists, writers, bloggers and artists come to WireTap to consider and advance urgent progressive ideas, understand what other activists are doing, feel affirmed in their own efforts, and feel connected to broader social justice movements.
  

  Vision:

  Wiretap works to advance social justice and increase opportunities for young people in America. We envision our country as a place where all young people -- despite their class, race, or gender -- have equal access to good schools, healthcare, food, shelter, and clean environment.
  

  Best Known For:

  Wiretap is the only national magazine which provides a daily platform for a new generation of activists and journalists working for social justice.
  

  Goals - 2007:

  CONTENT DEVELOOPMENT • Focus on quality not quantity. • Find and mentor 24 new reporters • Increase the impact of other youth media through reprints. INCREASING THE IMPACT OF YOUNG ORGANIZERS / MOVEMENT BUILDING • Connecting news to activism. Leveraging the latest low-cost technology tools, connect content of WireTap -- and other reprinted youth media -- to issue-based organizing efforts across the country. • Find and mentor 12 young leading activists each year and publish their work for national audiences through Op-Ed’s • Connecting young activists to broader social justice efforts and media. Facilitate strategic partnerships in order to act as a pipeline of new voices to broader social justice organizing efforts on the local and national levels. • Connecting less civically engaged youth to activism. BUILDING A COMMUNITY / MARKETING • Strategic technology and marketing plan. We will address a long-term challenge WireTap has been facing since its founding -- a lack of a strategic technology and marketing plan aimed at young audiences. • Marketing to our primary audiences:18- to 25-year-old youth, writers, and activists. We will reach out to colleges -- especially non-elite, community and urban colleges and universities, -- youth organizations, popular political musicians, social networking sites, and influential bloggers. • Focus Groups. ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH / CAPACITY BUILDING • Securing more funding. • Strengthening our governing advisory board.
  
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  Constituency Age:

  18 - 24, 25 - 30
  

  Race:

  Multi-racial
  
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  Paid Staff - How Many:

  3
  

  Paid Staff - Names/Positions:

  Kristina Rizga, Director Tomas Palermo, Managing Editor Jamilah King, Assistant Editor
  

  Paid Contractors - How Many:

  2
  

  Paid Contractors - Names/Positions:

  Shawn Sutherland, Technology Director Robert Gomez, Copyeditor
  

  # Core Volunteers:

  1
  

  Size of Email List:

  14,000
  

  Resources to Share:

  Alliance building, Networking opportunities
  
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  # of local groups:

  10
  

  List of cities or states with local groups:

  Board of Advisors

  Tanzila Ahmed, 26, is the founder of South Asian American Voting Youth, a national nonprofit organization that promotes civic engagement among South Asian American youth. She is currently pursuing her Master's in Public Policy at UCLA.

  Biko Baker is a nationally recognized hip hop organizer, academic and journalist. Biko served as the Deputy Publicity Coordinator and Young Voter Organizer for the Brown and Black Presidential Forum (a nationally televised presidential debate which aired on msnbc). He was also the lead organizer for Slam Bush, a national rap and poetry battle. Biko is currently the League of Young Voters Institute Director, a national organizer for the National Hip Hop Political Convention, and he also works with the Campaign Against Violence. Biko holds a B.A. in Political Science and Africology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a M.A. in African American Studies from UCLA, and is currently working on a Ph.D. in history from UCLA. Biko is also a frequent contributor to The Source.

  Andrea Batista Schlesinger is the executive director of the Drum Major Institute, a progressive think-tank, originally founded by an advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement. DMI seeks to change policy by conducting research into overlooked, but important social and economic issues, and by offering platforms to amplify the ideas of those who are working for social and economic fairness. Andrea has worked in various capacities to promote educational equity and youth empowerment. She directed a national campaign to engage college students in the discussion on the future of Social Security for the Pew Charitable Trusts, and served as Director of Public Relations of Teach For America before working as the education advisor to Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer. Andrea has been profiled in the New York Times, New Yorker magazine, Latina Magazine and in 'Hear us Now,' an award-winning documentary about her tenure as the student member of the New York City Board of Education.

  Adrienne Maree Brown, 29, is the executive director of The Ruckus Society, which brings nonviolent direct action training to communities impacted by economic, environmental and social oppression. She sits on the board of Allied Media Project and Wiretap Magazine, and facilitates the development of many organizations (most recently ColorofChange.org and Detroit Summer). A co-founder of the League of Young Voters and graduate of the Art of Leadership and Art of Change trainings, Adrienne is obsessed with learning and developing models for action, community strength and movement building.

  Samhita Mukhopadhyay, 28, is an editor of Feministing.com. She is currently working on her MA from San Francisco State University in Women's Studies. A graduate of SUNY Albany's Women's Studies/Sociology programs, Samhita's passions are trans-national feminisms, theories of knowledge production, electronic music and fashion. She lives in the Mission District of San Francisco and is a self-identified world class party girl.

  Twilight Greenaway, 30, was the editor of WireTap from 2000-2005. At present, she works on promoting viewer-created content by young people for Current TV.

  Don Hazen is founder of WireTap, executive director of the Independent Media Institute and executive editor of AlterNet. The former publisher of Mother Jones magazine, he has edited several books, including, most recently, Start Making Sense: Turning the Lessons of Election 2004 into Winning Progressive Politics. Don conceived of and organized the two Media & Democracy Congresses that took place in San Francisco and New York City in 1997 and 1998, and has managed political campaigns in New York City for Ruth Messinger and David Dinkins. He holds an MA in counseling from the University of Massachusetts and a BA in politics from Princeton University.

  Gavin Leonard, 26, serves as director of Elementz: The Hip-Hop Youth Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a board member of the League of Young Voters and LYV Education Fund, and is on the advisory committees of Wiretap and the All-Ages Movement Project. He believes that building power to make change starts with strong community-based relationships.

  Dani McClain, 28, is a journalist from Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to serving on WireTap's Advisory Board, Dani also frequently contributes to the site. Her reporting has appeared most recently in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Miami Herald. In addition to freelancing for independent newspapers and alternative weeklies, Dani has taught high school social studies and developed communications campaigns at Drug Policy Alliance and with the League of Pissed-Off Voters. She is a graduate of Columbia's School of Journalism and a former assistant editor at PopandPolitics.com.

  Rashid Shabazz has over ten years of community-based organizing and communications experience, ranging from electoral politics to issues including prison and criminal justice reform, education, and the environment. He has also been a contributing writer for several publications including The Source and Trace magazines. Rashid is currently a 2006 New York University Social Justice Fellow working with local community groups in New York City on a public awareness campaign for progressive education reform. As a West African Research Association (WARA) Fellow, he conducted a media and youth research project in Ghana, West Africa. He holds a B.A. in English from George Mason University, an M.A. in African studies from Yale University and an M.S. in magazine writing from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
   
  
  
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