In San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood, there’s a small building that’s a big part of some young people’s lives. Sunset Youth Services provides teenagers, transitional age young adults, and their families with support like violence prevention programs, parenting classes, and food assistance. And tucked away in a corner upstairs is the youth-run music studio, Upstar Records. That’s where teens learn to record their own songs, produce beats, and shoot music videos.
Twenty-four-year-old Clarissa Bryant has been recording there since she was sixteen, just one year after she came out at school. KALW’s Audrey Dilling brings you the story in this installment of Bay Area Beats.
Click the audio player above to hear the story.
Find more music from Upstar Records here. For more information about Sunset Youth Services click here.
This story originally aired on March 5th, 2014.