YR Media

A photograph of Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen is seen Thursday at a vigil. Olsen was severely injured during a standoff between police and protesters in Oakland, Calif., two days earlier. He remains hospitalized.

Malin Alegria lives in San Jose, Calif., where she teaches and writes.

High-heeled shoes hang from a gated window in an empty alley behind the National Lodge motel. The Oakland city attorney has filed suit against the motel, arguing that it knowingly facilitates child sex trafficking. Courtesy of Denise Tejada hide caption

Tara Billinger (left) and Kali Fontecchio star as endlessly amused aliens in Gigglers, which premiered at Channel 101 in May 2011. Via Channel 101 hide caption

Maya wears the EEG cap and watches the commercial at the headquarters of NeuroFocus in Berkeley, Calif. Courtesy of Youth Radio hide caption

Oakland police used to put a priority on arresting johns. But with cuts in funding, the police now target the girls who've been trafficked for sex. Brett Myers/Youth Radio hide caption

Oakland, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been dubbed by the FBI as a "high-intensity child prostitution area." Oakland officials say that a third of teenage girls working in prostitution there were abducted and forced onto the streets, and 61 percent of teen prostitutes say they were raped as children. Brett Myers/Youth Radio hide caption

Fahiya Rashid, who attends the University of California, Irvine, says she got some wise advice from her father. When he went to college he took on too much debt, and he's still paying it back. Ariel Edwards-Levy/Youth Radio hide caption