Keith Hefner is the founder and Executive Director of Youth Communication, an influential nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 publishing magazines and books by and for youth. The magazines are New Youth Connections, written by New York City teens, and Represent, by and for foster youth

Foster care

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

. He was also a founder of Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor was an organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It existed from 1970 to 1979, and is often cited in more recent academic literature as one of the leading forerunners of several youth movements in the United States, including the youth rights movement, youth voice...

, a youth rights

Youth rights

Youth rights refers to a set of philosophies intended to enhance civil rights for young people. They are a response to the oppression of young people, with advocates challenging ephebiphobia, adultism and ageism through youth participation, youth/adult partnerships, and promoting, ultimately,...

 organization in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

.

Biography

After growing up in Ann Arbor, in eleventh grade Hefner was inspired to become involved in the youth-led media

Youth-led media

Youth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications.-Movement:...

 field after seeing a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 principal censor the school newspaper. Soon after he started a magazine for local youth activists

Youth activism

Youth activism is when the youth voice is engaged in community organizing for social change. Around the world, young people are engaged in activism as planners, researchers, teachers, evaluators, social workers, decision-makers, advocates and leading actors in the environmental movement, social...

 called FPS.

From 1971-1979 Hefner ran Youth Liberation

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor

Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor was an organization based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It existed from 1970 to 1979, and is often cited in more recent academic literature as one of the leading forerunners of several youth movements in the United States, including the youth rights movement, youth voice...

, a youth-led organization that became a national publisher for the youth rights movement. Youth Liberation Press published several of his publications, including How to Start a High School Underground Newspaper, Students and Youth Organizing, and other books about youth rights.

In 1979 Hefner moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, and after gaining inspiration from a new youth-driven newspaper in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, founded Youth Communication.

Recognition

Hefner has received a great deal of recognition for his work in the fields of youth development, foster care

Foster care

Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in the private home of a state certified caregiver referred to as a "foster parent"....

 and youth-led media

Youth-led media

Youth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications.-Movement:...

. He won a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989. In 1986 he was a Charles H. Revson Fellow on the Future of New York City at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. In 1997 he received the Luther P. Jackson Award for Educational Excellence from the New York Association of Black Journalists.