Living messages to the future

By Melissa Gerr,

Published May 18, 2023 at 10:11 AM EDT

Junior and senior high school students from the Elijah Cummings Youth Program in Washington, D.C., with the non-profit's honorary board chair U.S. Cong. Kweisi Mfume. ECYP prepares students to become community leaders. Photo: Provided by office of Cong. Mfume

The late congressman Elijah E. Cummings famously said: “Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see.” The Elijah Cummings Youth Program, in its 25th year, is his testament to that. We speak with executive director Kathleen St. Villier Hill, and students Ryen Eley and Benjamin Caplan, about the experience.

Links: Elijah Cummings Youth Program, Justice is Not Just Us podcast.

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Melissa Gerr

Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'

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Maureen Harvie

Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.

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