Share Your Stories and Ideas

For the young people (15-25 yrs old): 

Got an inspiring story?  Know someone who is helping make the change? Or maybe you're losing sleep or tearing your hair out because you think people can do better.

Tell us what you care about, what keeps you up at night. Share stories of your projects or those you've been involved with. Share with us how you felt and what you learned. 

Adults (those who didn't meet the age range, above :D): 

What concerns you about the youth? We've received many stories (some of them complaints) about the foibles of today's youth. Or is it really just a generation gap that is widened because of the different, hi-tech world in which they are now growing up? Tell us what you think about today's youth. 

As we Pinoys say, "The more, the many-er." Help enrich The Y Factor by sharing your ideas and stories. You can start by posting a comment here!

Standard Indicators (or the Lack of)

One problem that has kept popping up in our work is the lack of standardized statistical indicators. Sure, there's a lot of statistics flying about in the web, but trying to merge them to form one clear, cohesive picture is a chore.

"How's that?" you ask. Consider the definition of "youth". At the Y Factor, we have agreed to define the youth through an age range of 15 to 25 years old. However, studies have different ways of segmenting age ranges. One study may show a range of "below 15" while another displays ranges of 15-19 while using 10-24 in another. 

To complicate things further, even the government agencies have overlapping ways of defining the age range. The National Youth Council (NYC) defines the youth as 15 to 30 years old. In a young society like the Philippines, 30 years old seems to be too old to be considered young :)

This has bearing in estimating, for instance, the number of youth in the Philippines. If we define our youth as people ages 15-25, while various studies define theirs differently, then we need to make some smart extrapolations.

All Lined Up

Coming up with topics is the least of our worries at the Y Factor-y. Judging from the rich trove of materials on the youth, a lot of people agree: the youth are a major factor for change in the society!

Here's our lineup of topics so far:

• Youth and Spirituality , including a sidebar on our participation in the World Youth Day
• Youth Organizations or organizations that help the youth
• Idols
• Youth Online
• Growing up Pinoy Abroad
• Entrepreneurship
• Kabataan News Network
• Media Habits
• Young Celebrities
• State of Education
• Non-formal Education
• Addictions
• UAAP
• Pacquiao and the Youth
• Youth and Sexuality
• Trafficking
• Sangguniang Kabataan
• Juvenile Justice
• Campus Journalism
• Youth and Politics
• Call Center Industry
• Servant Leadership
• Muslim youth
• Young achievers who have gained international recognition

Have something you strongly believe should be part of the lineup? Feel free to let us know!

How to Help The Y Factor

There are several ways to help create The Y Factor:

• Sponsor or purchase ads in the book itself. Help the book and reach your target audience. The Y Factor's target audience are decision makers, CEOs, educators, political leaders, opinion leaders, NGOs and other individuals and organizations concerned with the youth. To sponsor or buy ad space, email: reserve(at)y-factor.org.
  
• Reserve your copies of the book in advance. Email: reserve(at)y-factor.org
• Donate The Y Factor as a gift. The Y Factor sourcebook is a perfect gift for institutions, libraries and friends. Email: reserve(at)y-factor.org

Interested to contribute photos, articles, ideas and effort? Contact the editorial team: editorial(at)y-factor.org

The Y Factor as Hub

As we dig through information about the youth and our country, it's becoming more and more obvious that there's no dearth of stats when it comes to youth issues and concerns. Googling with a set of keywords yields tons of links. For instance, the ADB website alone contains various studies, indicators and references about Asia in general and the Philippines in particular.

This deluge of information only reinforces the need for The Y Factor sourcebook. With all the information that's available, the question changes from "What are the facts?" to "Which of the volumes of facts really matter?"

What we really need is a hub of experts where information can be reviewed, assessed and filtered. The Y Factor sourcebook will be that hub.

Domain name and logo

We switched on our new domain name a couple of days ago. You may now visit this site through http://y-factor.org or http://www.y-factor.org. Please set your bookmarks now!

If you wish to reserve in advance a copy of the book, email reserve@y-factor.org.

Our logo is now also almost final. It's amazing how today's technology is helping our team work together despite the fact that we are in separate locations. 

It's time to begin the conversation about the youth, through The Y Factor. 

Abangan!

Momentum picking up

The pace here at Y Factor has definitely picked up. Our tireless editor Grace has started making article briefs and sending them. Ros, our ever-reliable researcher is working miracles in digging up research on the youth. And our wonderful designers have uploaded a couple of great cover studies. I'm having difficulty picking which cover to vote: Study 1 or 4? 

I also like all the logo studies presented in the cover studies. As soon as the logo is approved, we'll be changing the logo on this blog too!

The Y Factor

This is the official blog of The Y Factor.

What is The Y Factor?

The Y Factor is a sourcebook of issues, success stories and vital information about the Filipino Youth. 

The Y Factor is intended for decision-makers, school administrators, political leaders and agents of change.

Why Y?

We believe in changing society and, like Rizal, we believe in the youth as a critical factor towards this goal. But not enough is being done about this. We need to a coordinated effort. We need stories to inspire. We need an integrated source of information about the youth.

Who is behind Y Factor?

The Y Factor is a collaborative effort of people who have worked with the youth. Publisher Fr. Armand Robleza of Salesian Missions has been publishing various magazines and books related to the youth.

Editor-in-Chief Grace M. Leung is the editor of Junior Inquirer and a supervisor/consultant for Kabataan News Network. She was also supervising producer of 5 and UP.

When is it coming out?

The Y Factor will be released on December 2008. Salesian Missions plans to release it annually.