2022 Annual Impact Report
Amplifying the Next Generation of Voices for Change
A Message from CEO Kyra Kyles
Resilience. Adaptability. Agility.
These have been the guiding principles for the last three years of my tenure as CEO at YR Media. I took on leadership of a nearly 30-year-old Oakland institution during an unprecedented time, not only for this country, but the world at large.
Through the pandemic and the racial reckoning that rightfully accompanied it, our amazing staff and the diverse 14- to 24-year-old content creators we serve came together to fulfill our media mission. With unyielding support from our Board of Directors, we pressed forward despite wave after wave of variants and increasingly worrying forecasts of economic recession.
Instead of shrinking back in fear, we rose to the challenge. We grew, adding staff, increasing services, broadening our platforms and even launched a new, robust virtual hub in Chicago serving the Midwest.
Through the pandemic and the racial reckoning that rightfully accompanied it, our amazing staff and the diverse 14- to 24-year-old content creators we serve came together to fulfill our media mission.
In 2022, we took our mission even further. We added to our longtime scaffolds of counseling, healthy food and case management by bringing back academic advising, and laid the groundwork for financial coaching for our YR Stars.
We added learning stipends, versus free training, for students enrolled in our Media Education program, further smoothing their pathway to the paid roles we’ve consistently offered in a world where some companies still believe “exposure” is currency for content creators.
Our virtual Midwest hub is now a physical one, as we are opening a 5,200 square-foot space in Chicago, centrally located so that we can serve the communities that a majority of our BIPOC young people call home.
This year, YR Media's downtown Oakland headquarters, already an oasis in a rapidly gentrifying district, will undergo extensive improvements to ensure we have even more production capacity and community spaces where our YR Stars can connect.
Your support through 2022 was paramount to our success. Thanks to your support we innovated even more platforms and career pathways. For example, we partnered with podcast distributor Critical Frequency and the show’s co-creators to launch season two of "Inherited," a critically acclaimed climate change storytelling vehicle that centers BIPOC voices on a global level.
In addition, our YR Music team spent 2022 preparing to launch an exciting equitable licensing initiative. As a result, YR Stars will earn a majority of the profit from the audio they create for forthcoming podcasts, films, advertising spots and TV series.
As we make these major moves, I am grateful to have the guidance of our YR Stars, including our Content Creator Council (aka C3) to help shape 2023 and beyond. I hope that you too, will be inspired by what you read in this report and join us on the next leg of this journey.
With your support and continued investment, we will continue to be bold, unapologetic and ascendant, as we create a blueprint for another 30 years of media.
With Gratitude,
Kyra Kyles
