Amplifying student voices and inspiring civic leaders through school journalism, by helping New York City public schools start and sustain student news publications.
Scholastic Journalism Matters
Scholastic journalism gives teens the opportunity to develop their curiosity and passion by writing about topics that interest them. For many, that means more than a grade because they’re writing for an audience of their peers instead of a teacher. Whether arguing for a change in school rules, reporting on the impact of new policies or writing about sports, they develop critical thinking, teamwork, leadership, take pride in their work — and also learn about civics.
The Need Is Tremendous
A Kent State study found high school newspapers are declining nationally. While NYC may be the nation’s media capital, a 2022 Baruch College survey found 73% of the city’s public high schools do not have student newspapers. And those schools mostly serve low-income communities of color. We believe all students deserve the opportunity to work on a news team.
Among NYC schools with poverty rates of 78% or higher, Baruch’s study found those with student newspapers had higher four-year graduation rates.
National studies find students who work at school newspapers are more likely to have higher GPA’s and to pay attention to news.
Press Pass NYC is changing that trajectory by helping NYC public schools start or revive student-led news publications. The rest of a school benefits, too, with a model for meaningful local news by and for students. A 2024 study by the News Literacy Project found 80% of teens on social media reported seeing posts that spread or promote conspiracy theories and 81% said they are inclined to believe one or more of them. We are building media literacy and demand for accurate news to counter disinformation and pernicious new forms of AI.
Our Impact
Press Pass NYC was founded by Lara Bergen, a former NYC English teacher who saw firsthand how scholastic journalism engaged her students. Executive Director Beth Fertig was an award-winning WNYC/NPR reporter who covered the 9/11 attacks and the NYC public schools.
Since 2021, PPNYC has helped 30 schools launch or revive student newspapers, online and in print, reaching a combined enrollment of 25,000 in grades 6-12. Of those 30 schools, 70% serve more economically disadvantaged students than the citywide average; 43% serve more students with special needs.
Our student journalists report on stories that matter to them and their peers, such as:
Arguments for and against a cell phone ban during school
How a school’s new ID system caused confusion about which entrance to use
Problems with an aging gym, which led to a grant from a city council member
How violent video games create “negative responses in the brain.”
The impact of immigration policies on students. “I was stopped twice,” one said.
The newspapers we started or revived have won 37 awards. The Pacer NYC at Pace High School even won best citywide high school newspaper in 2025 at an annual competition judged by journalists, beating out more established newspapers at academically selective schools. As the editor-in-chief of one student newspaper told us about his peers, “They trust me and they see that the work that the Bronx River News keeps posting is credible.”
Our Program
Our free programs are designed to train teachers and students on how to successfully launch and operate their own school-based news team led by teens.
For teachers: Foundational training by the nation’s leading journalism educators on how to advise a student news team through either a club or a class. No prior journalism experience required. Annual cohorts of teachers receive stipends and mentors.
For students: Summer bootcamps on editing, plus fellowships with stipends each semester for learning about different aspects of journalism with professional guidance.
Each news team gets three years of support from PPNYC. By then, they have enough training for the adviser and teens to pass along their knowledge to future teams.
Join Our Mission
Your support can help us build our success by adding 200 more student news teams in the NYC public schools by 2035. We’re working with 14 more in the 2025-26 year. We also hope to become a national model for other communities by piloting our program in another city.
Immediate goals: $5 million over 5 years to get us off to a running start. Those funds will:
Grow Our Winning Team: Hire a full-time Program Director; part-time Borough Hub Managers; part-timers to coordinate volunteers and partnerships plus organization.
Empower Our People: Strengthen donor engagement and financial systems.
Scale Operations: Our program model must be strong and nimble to work with more district schools and even whole charter networks. We plan to introduce a fee-for-service model with schools that can afford to contribute.
End Goal: Once we reach 200 NYC schools, with student-run news publications in most city high schools, we will transition to a smaller organization focused solely on coaching.
