(energetic music) - Here's what's coming up on "You Oughta Know."

They're serving up Tex-Mex and a chance to start over again at this Roxborough restaurant.

See how ultimate frisbee is helping to foster inclusivity, and inside the ring is where some teens are learning how to handle life's challenges.

(energetic music) Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Shirley Min.

Today's show puts a spotlight on our future journalists, filmmakers, videographers and visual creators.

Here's what I mean.

Every story you're about to watch was produced by students from WHYY's media labs.

The program prepares students from ages 13 to 25 for careers in these fields by providing hands-on training and instruction at classes right here at WHYY and in schools around Philly.

These next stories come from our youth employment interns, who tackled topics on recovery, inclusion and mentorship.

Take a look.

(speed bag thudding) - The Rock was something that was birthed from a prison ministry, so while he was there one day, one of the kids that he had been training had disappeared for a minute and here, lo and behold, this kid comes in onto the prison block during one of the Bible studies, and Buddy sees this kid and he asked him what was going on and just trying to figure out what had happened.

This kid was facing life in prison, and it was at that moment that Buddy knew this has to be something that's about prevention.

We can't meet them after they've been in prison.

We need to meet them before they get there.

So with this new vision of what to do with that, he started using boxing as as a tool to bring kids in and then give them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The ministry first started in a place called Joe Hand's Gym.

It was down where 2300 Arena is now.

That was the original location that we were.

- He came here when he was 16, and Buddy was here and stuff like that, so Buddy was basically his mentor, and he was a street kid.

He was in and out juvenile facilities and stuff, so he was basically a bad kid, an inner-city kid that was doing stuff out in the streets and selling drugs and all that, and he came here and changed his life.

Now 19 years or 20 years later, you're seeing here now serving God and training all the young youth growing up and teaching them.

- Joe Hand's allowed Buddy to have the second floor and had a big banner where Tyson used to train at.

Mike Tyson used to train in there.

We do boxing and bible study, and we don't discriminate.

Being a Christian organization, we have four Muslim kids who train out of our rock, out of our gym, and we don't discriminate.

We don't tell them they can't come.

We have a 15, 20 minute Bible study on Thursdays, and then Sundays we have church service at 11.

I find it more as a safe haven for the kids, somewhere where they can come, learn how to box or do jujitsu or do some weights, work some self-esteem off.

- Most kids today are being taught to pick up a gun.

Most kids at 12 years old and that are out here are are being shown, and it's like, hey, pick up a gun.

That's the way to defend yourself.

If someone messes with you, pick up a gun.

It's like, no, that's not the way to handle things, you know?

So for us, we would rather see one kid put on a set of boxing gloves in our building as a part of prevention so that we know it's like, hey, he's not gonna go out there and pick a gun up when he gets frustrated.

He's not gonna go out there and pick a gun up when things don't go his way.

He's gonna turn from that and he's gonna say, "You know what?

I remember what they said during that Bible study.

I remember how the coaches there told me to control myself and to handle myself in a respectable way."

- Ah, my ankle, brah.

- As a person of color, I've found a lot of power in playing Ultimate, in finding community with folks that are like myself, and especially in the recent years.

Also, as I get older, being able to be a leader and creating those spaces has been really important for me.

I think I've been really fortunate to have played on a number of teams that haven't been very diverse, had a lot of people of color or gender diversity.

It is really jarring to go from a space like that to a different team that might be majority white or I might be the only trans or queer player.

The hardest part is consistently feeling like the space is mine.

- Three, two, one, skip.

- When sports start in communities, they stay in communities, and they only spread to adjacent communities.

It started in a white community and it stayed in the white community, and it has spread some, and now that it's reaching more Black communities and more diverse communities, you're getting them reaching out to their friends.

My friends are more diverse, and so it's slowly growing more inclusive.

- Hi, my name is Chris Lehmann.

I am the Founding Principal of Science Leadership Academy and the coach of the SLA Boys Team.

For a very long time, we would often times be the most diverse team at a tournament, and you hear the comments of like, "They've got bad spirit," which was kind of a microaggression that we had to play against.

That short circuited or neglected all of the hard work, all of the skill, all of the intelligence which SLA plays.

It's from feeling like our Black players had fouls called on them more often to having a coach call one of our Black players a thug, to parents saying, "Why do those kids cheer so loud?"

I think that what SLA has done for a long time now is show that diversity in Ultimate is possible, to show that this is not a quote, unquote "white sport," and that there is necessary space to be made for creating opportunities for diverse players of color to experience the game.

(crowd chattering) - Getting to diversity through the mission and principle of inclusion, to not raising the number just to raise numbers, but to make sure that people know that this is a safe space that they are a part of and that anyone can be a part.

- Ultimate has helped me gain confidence in myself, which I brought into other parts of my life, being able to lend my voice and find ways to be a leader.

I've really benefited from many opportunities from captioning and coaching, and I feel that Ultimate has helped me a lot in my life.

- If you look at the work that PADA is doing right now around Youth Ultimate and partnering with the School District of Philadelphia and trying to grow more teams in traditionally underrepresented places in our city, I think that that's a huge place to start.

By being a more inclusive sport, by being a sport that represents the diversity that is our city, our region, our nation, you actually give us the chance to be the sport we've hoped to have been.

(gentle music) - Unity Taqueria started in 2021.

Our owners, Robert and Arielle Ashford, decided they wanted to open the taco shop, our coffee shop and the Volstead, which is our vegan restaurant and zero-proof bar.

We are just like your typical kind of restaurant, but the biggest thing is that we really focus on two communities in particular, being the recovery community and then formerly incarcerated.

- Unity as a whole, it's not just like one place.

We have recovery centers, we have restaurants, whatever you can imagine essentially, and everyone has a fair chance there.

I dealt with some addictions and whatnot, alcoholism and all that, and then about three months in I started getting sober.

They just care about you, and there's a lot of places where you're just another number, and this place, you're actually like a human being.

(gentle music) - Being with a company that's recovery-oriented, wellness-oriented, community-oriented is vital.

We provide the opportunities for people to develop themselves, make a little extra money while doing it, providing for themselves the stability that they're going to need as a person in recovery moving forward with their lives.

- I have so many friends and family members who have struggled with substance use, and so it is really important to me to have this kind of space and to offer this kind of space for people who are in recovery and looking to know that maybe there's something better out there, just to feel like they belong, and not only have the opportunity to get a job, but also to get training and move up and get chances that they might not have had otherwise.

(relaxed music) - Unity as a whole, it's about who you are, not who you were, and even if it's still an ongoing problem, it's about growing and it's about moving forward with it.

It's a really amazing experience.

Your weaknesses aren't weaknesses, they're just part of your story.

- I'm certain we're gonna see more from these young creators in the future.

These next student-produced stories ask questions like, what is this business about and what is it like to work in a family business?

(speaking foreign language) (lively music) (speaking foreign language) - The first day we opened our doors, it wasn't really busy, but as soon as we started getting those first small orders, there were like $10 orders for some empanadas or some tacos.

We noticed straight away that through word-of-mouth our business was really taking off.

(speaking foreign language) - You know, even against those odds, my parents, thankfully, they were able to hold the line, really.

My brothers too, we were able to come in clutch for them.

When business picks up here, they just give us a phone call and we'll be on the way.

The only reason El Molino is still here and the lights are on is because of this community and the neighborhood around us, and I can't stress that enough.

(speaking foreign language) (lively music) - Currently today, FabScrap has diverted over 1.4 million pounds of textile waste from the landfill, which is the equivalent of planting over 140,000 trees.

I think that that's something that's really important, just because our volunteers are making a difference.

My name is Saida Burns-Moore, and I work at FabScrap.

(relaxed music) Volunteers sort through all of the material, and they sort it into different categories, so either the material is recyclable or reusable, and so for the materials that we recycle, we turn them into something called shoddy, and that's an eco-friendly fiber fill, and that's something that can be used for building insulation, or people also stuff their couch cushions.

And then for anything that's reusable, that all goes into the reuse room area and is sold at an affordable price.

We have small business owners come.

We've had people drive from Maryland to source leather from FabScrap.

We also have people that are a part of knitting groups that just come.

They want to buy yarn, and then we have people that just care about the environment.

FabScrap will change the clothing industry in a way that companies will think about being more sustainable and having more ethical and sustainable business practices within their business model, and thinking about recycling and reusing the material they already have instead of just disposing it.

We have a partnership with Urban, which is Urban Outfitters, Anthropology, and so they actually support us a lot, and we recycle and reuse a lot of the material that they send to us.

(relaxed music) I feel like this is really a nice way to make an impact.

It's not very laborous.

People can just stand and sort for a couple of hours, and it's really nice that we've created this organization that makes people feel like they're making a difference while also making connections with other community members.

People that are looking to volunteer here at FabScrap can visit our website.

We have volunteer sessions twice a day, five days a week from Monday through Friday.

Once they complete a three hour session, they receive five pounds of free fabric, and then they get a 30% discount in addition to that.

I think that a lot of people do want to make a difference and they don't really know where to start, and I think FabScrap is a good place to start that journey to be more sustainable, be more ethical.

(relaxed music) - Finding your passion early in life can be both exhilarating and challenging, as seen in this next story produced by students from Philadelphia's Creative and Performing Arts High School.

(violin playing) - My name is Mora-Lee Moore.

I am 18 years old, and I'm a senior at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

I started playing the violin in the fourth grade, and that seems kind of early.

I was like nine years old, 10 years old, and for some people, they would be like, "Wow, that was a long time."

But most advanced musicians start playing at the age of three or four years old.

For a long time I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in music, but what was holding me back was that fear that I would not be good enough and that the progress that I make wouldn't be enough.

(violin playing) In the fifth grade, I joined a program called the Community Music Scholars Program at Boyer College, and there are different levels of orchestras, and my conductor was Ms. Ashley Vines, and she was a Black woman.

But as I started to join more advanced orchestras, that's when I started to see that lack of diversity, and that's kind of when it became more discouraging.

As I became more advanced, things got a lot less diverse, and I started to see less people that looked like me.

(violin playing) Being in these music communities, I have been able to be a lot more expressive, open and vulnerable.

Music is such an expressive and human and vulnerable thing, and I'm just very grateful that I am able to do that and to form that kind of connection with other people.

It's been very inspiring for me to see successful women of color in music, and I'm very excited to also be that as well.

(violin playing) - Twice a year, students apply for paid college internships here at WHYY.

Many come with ideas they want to bring to life, while others volunteer to take on projects.

Here are two stories produced by our college interns.

(energetic music) - We are an urban Philadelphia creamery, and we focus on American original cheeses, new styles of cheese, working tightly with farmers right from right outside the city.

I am Yoav Perry, and this is Perrystead Dairy.

We are part of this kind of a small but growing model of urban creameries that focus on making stuff right here in the city while supporting the farmers out in the farmland and creating economic opportunity in our community.

We strictly work with Pennsylvania small family dairies that do a really great job with animal husbandry and taking care of their land to make sure that instead of methane production, we actually have beautiful soil that absorbs the carbon emissions.

The act of making cheese is an act of expressing all of this beauty and taking these snapshots of time and turn them into something that you can eat and preserve later on.

Today we have a beautiful milk that's mostly Guernsey cows.

We then pasteurize the milk.

We're a 100% pasteurized facility.

Once we're done, we culture it and we put the enzyme in it.

The cheese we're making today is a very long process.

It takes two days to make.

That's our cheese cave.

Basically we're mimicking the conditions of a cave.

It's a yeasting chamber where we start kicking off the rind of the cheese.

So you see that little growth is the beginning of our rind.

The rind is really, really important to process the flavor, the texture, the aroma and the look of the cheese.

Cheese stays there anywhere from 10 to 100 days.

We always have some seasonal cheeses, and then we have a few cheeses that we just do year round, but they change year round based on where in the season they are.

We always have our Real Philly Schmear, because Philadelphia cheese was never, ever made in Philadelphia, so we decided to come up with our own version.

It's not a cream cheese, because we actually just use whole milk, so there's less fat and more protein and calcium in it, which is beautiful.

Kind of tangy.

We have our Intergalactic, which is an award-winning cheese that is coagulated with the flowers of the artichoke thistle.

Then we have our Moonrise, which is a washed rind cheese.

It's a bit of a trappy style, but we actually coagulate with both traditional rennet and with cardoon artichoke thistle flour, so it gives it really kind of a peanutty finish and a very silky, smooth, supple texture.

Our cheese is sold all over the region.

There's about 60 different stores where you can get our stuff.

(drums beating) - Music brings community together, music brings up peace.

(drums beating) My name is Ami Yares.

I work with BuildaBridge International.

BuildaBridge International is an arts and education nonprofit based here in Philadelphia.

It's been around for over 20 years.

It was founded by Dr. J. Nathan Corbitt and Dr. Vivian Nix-Early, a psychologist and ethnomusicologist, a music therapist.

They wanted to leverage the power of art making to empower its therapeutic qualities.

(piano playing) - What are you doing?

- Can't you tell?

It should be obvious.

- Can you show me?

- When we talk about restorative art making, we're talking about helping people find their resilience, helping people strengthen their agency to be able to be more self-efficacious in terms of things that they need in life.

The thing that's different about BuildaBridge is that we're not a clinical institution.

We're not trying to medicalize or stigmatize or try to cure people, but we really want to find people's strengths to help them grow and move forward with that.

- And I say, "Okay."

- A lot of people that we work with have been through traumatic experiences.

Trauma takes away possibility.

It takes away what's taking place in front of you.

Art-making is an incredible way to help people begin to have a greater sense of agency.

We train our artists to not just look at art for the sake of making art, but how can we empower people's lives and help them see the power in their own lives.

(drums beating) Today, BuildaBridge gets to do a public programming, some public programming here in Point Breeze and inviting some of our friends to join us, some of our teaching artists to come and hang out and make some music for the public and bring people in to have a creative experience.

- My name is Anssumane Silla.

I'm from Guinea Bissau.

I'm an African dance and drum instructor.

Today, I'm here today to share the African culture.

- BuildaBridge is hopefully creating a ripple effect, that providing a space of love and respect and compassion through art-making that helps people navigate the trials of living in Philadelphia and turn some of those trials and the victories.

- Remember what it was like when you applied for your driver's license?

Well, our next student producer shows that while a lot has changed, some things are still the same.

(engine turning) - Driving has been a staple of American transportation for over a century, and here in Pennsylvania is no different.

Not only is it fun and convenient when it comes to vacations and trips to the market, the ability to drive offers more job opportunity, such as food delivering, ride sharing, public transportation, big rig trucking and everything in between.

And now, you're ready to buckle up and glide down the street.

However, only one thing stands between you and most of the time open road, the dreadful PennDOT exam.

But as a new driver who recently conquered this PennDOT exam, allow me to share with you some tips and tricks that you can use to help you pass, too.

There's three main parts of the exam, the knowledge test, parallel parking test, and the road test.

Once you arrive for your exam, you're going to pull up behind a yellow line and wait for the examiner to come to you.

This is where you're going to show the examiner your permit, the car's insurance and registration and the other person's license.

You will take your first test at this yellow line.

So to prepare for the knowledge test, write down these controls.

One, turn the car on.

(dashboard dinging) Two, turn the signal to the right/left.

Three, hazard lights or four way flashers or emergency lights.

Four, windshield wipers, high/low.

Five, parking brake or emergency brake.

Six, step on the brakes.

Seven, parking lights.

Eight, low beams.

Nine, high beams.

Have someone else read them to you out of order so you can be prepared for whatever order the examiner asks you to do this in.

After the knowledge test, your instructor is going to get in the car with you and tell you to pull up to one of the parallel parking spots that they choose.

When pulling up to the spot, turn on your turn signal about three seconds before you are about to park.

The reason for this is to let other drivers know ahead of time that you're planning to park so they have enough time to react.

After this, you will take the road test.

For the road test, you go on to the street and drive where the instructor tells you to, then drive back to the testing area starting point and straight park your car.

That is when the test ends.

When I first took my driver's exam, I failed due to a miscommunication with another driver on the road, but I was so upset that I rescheduled immediately after that and went back two days later and passed with flying colors.

Here's my license to prove it.

(upbeat music) Now, I hope to see you one day on the open road, too.

See you later.

(engine turning) (upbeat music) - To learn more about WHYY's college internships and the Pathways to Media Careers program, which places students in media organizations around the region, check out our website.

Okay, that is our show.

Thank you so much for joining us, and we will see you soon.

Bye.

(energetic music)