New York Youth Speaks respects the privacy of all subscribers and is deeply committed to protecting the personal information you share with us when you support our work through a paid subscription or our mailing list. When you subscribe, we collect only the limited personal information necessary to provide you with access to exclusive content and to process your payments. This information typically includes your name, email address, and billing details. Your payment information, such as credit or debit card numbers, is processed securely through trusted third-party payment processors and is never stored directly on our servers.

We use your subscriber information strictly for legitimate operational purposes. This includes creating and managing your subscription, processing renewals, and sending essential communications such as receipts and project updates. If you have opted in, we also use your email to share newsletters and new story alerts. We want to be clear that we do not sell, rent, or trade your information to advertisers or data brokers, and we never use subscriber data for targeted advertising. Access to your information is limited to the founder and essential service providers who assist with our website hosting and email distribution. These partners, including MobiLoud for our app infrastructure and Google Play Billing for subscription management, are contractually required to maintain strict confidentiality and comply with all modern data protection laws.

We also use Firebase and Google Analytics to monitor basic app performance and improve the user experience, ensuring our platform remains reliable for the youth voices we serve. To protect your data, we take reasonable administrative and technical measures against unauthorized access or loss, though we acknowledge that no online system is completely secure.

Your Rights and Data Control We believe you should have full control over your data. You have the right to access, correct, or delete your personal information and account at any time. You can initiate an account deletion directly through your account settings within the app or by contacting us at stories@newyorkyouthspeaks.com. We will process these requests and delete your data within 30 days, subject to any legal or financial recordkeeping obligations we must maintain.

By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to the collection and use of your information as described in this policy. Should we make material changes to how subscriber data is handled, we will update this policy accordingly and post the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. If you have any questions regarding your privacy or our data handling practices, please reach out to us through the contact information provided on our website.

At New York Youth Speaks, we are committed to providing a safe and supportive space for young people to express themselves. Because many of our contributors are minors, your privacy and confidentiality are at the heart of everything we do.

Our Commitment to Your Anonymity When you share a story with us, we only ask for the details necessary to review and publish your work, such as a pen name, your age, your borough, and the content itself. Providing an email address is entirely optional; if you choose to share it, we use it strictly to communicate with you about your submission and never share it with the public or outside organizations. We are firm in our promise never to ask for or publish real names, home addresses, school details, or social media accounts. To ensure this, every submission undergoes a manual editorial review before it goes live. During this moderation process, we proactively remove or adjust any names, locations, or personal details that could accidentally reveal who you are.

How We Use and Protect Your Content Your stories are used solely for editorial review and publication on our platform. We do not sell your information or share it with advertisers. While we take every precaution to protect your identity, it is important to remember that because New York Youth Speaks is an online community, we cannot prevent others from taking screenshots or sharing what is publicly posted. We encourage you to be thoughtful and prioritize your safety as you tell your story.

Safety, Moderation, and Support To maintain a safe environment for everyone, we do not allow content that promotes harm, illegal acts, or exploitation. As part of our commitment to safety, users can report any content they find concerning directly to our team. Please note that this platform is not a crisis resource and we cannot respond to emergencies. If a submission suggests that a storyteller may be at risk of serious harm, we may choose not to publish the piece and will provide crisis resources where possible.

You have the right to remain anonymous and to ask us questions about how we handle your stories. While you may request edits to your work for safety reasons, final decisions regarding publication and moderation remain at the discretion of our editorial team to ensure the platform remains a safe harbor for all youth voices.