Our paper has something similar (Young Voices or some such thing).
A blog is a great idea.
I had a column in a weekly paper for four years, about twenty years ago (gosh, I'm old). (It was fun, but be prepared for some funny phone calls from readers!) You might try a weekly, actually--they don't typically pay as well as the dailies (at least in my day that was true), and are sometimes more open to emerging writers. She might try writing a couple of pieces on spec, as samples, and send them to the editor of the section (arts, sports, whatever) in which she's most interested, and then follow up with a phone call in a week or two.
Hope that helps!
peace
minnie
