The project "Youth Journalism Academy" has the main focus to respond the problem of insufficient participation of young people in the local community. Youth Journalism Academy "was held in Pula, 14 to 23 March 2016. The Academy was attended by 22 participants from Croatian, Slovenia, Hungary and Estonia (young people aged 17-30 years, leaders of the group and project leader). At least eight young people with fewer opportunities (economic and cultural barriers) were included in the project. Partners in the project are: MTÜ VitaTiiM (Estonia), Youth Centre Zagorje ob Savi (Slovenia) and támaszpont MOP KCA (Hungary). The overall objective of the project was to improve the integration of young people in the local community, while the specific objectives of the project were: (1), to encourage young people to achieve positive social change through the use of media tools; (2) to empower young people, skills for active participation in their local communities (3) to encourage networking and exchange of experiences of young people in the EU. Implementing the program of Youth Journalism Academy we achieved specific objectives of the project. Through Youth Journalism Academy young people were taught about citizen journalism as a model of greater involvement in the local community. The fact that young people are more inclined to use new media digital technology has proven to be an excellent way of encouraging young people to make positive social change. During the youth exchange they have learned about the available online media tools, and through practical work they acquired skills in writing, making videos/video logs and creating photo-stories. In addition, the question of citizen journalism proved to be intriguing and interesting topics to young people because it is not present in the mainstream media. Through work on individual cases, participants became more aware of the importance of greater involvement in the development of the (local) community. We organized a debate on the information right and ethical reporting, with the emphasis on the refugee crisis in Europe and the problems of young people in their countries. Project Youth Journalism Academy has surpassed initial expectations because young people have shown motivation for the adoption of new media skills, which in larger number of media results (video logs, photo stories, blog, research stories). Using blogs in youth exchange is a very useful practice for the dissemination of results, but also as a reminder to the participants on the work of the exchange. The biggest problem during the youth exchange has proved to be the timeframes for organizing intercultural evenings, so this experience has taught us that intercultural evening shouldn’t be held the first day of a youth exchange. However it should be noted that the intercultural evenings were very important in connecting participants and the encouraging intercultural dialogue, which was also the specific objective of the project. Youth Journalism Academy proved to be a successful pilot project since we designed a new program and methodology which is more focused on media activism of young people. The project has a long-term positive impact, since the participants were empowered young people who are now ready to get active in their local community.