Q&A: Four Community-Centered News Initiatives

Join us and four newsrooms who created unique community initiatives from our Community-Centered Symposium. Learn how you can replicate and be inspired by these efforts! Each speaker will give a brief overview of their project, and then we will have an open Q&A to answer all your questions.SpeakersDani Brown | Riverwise / The Bridge We teamed up with an after school program to have a listening session with students about what they want to see in the news, and then the students created our April newsletter. The students produced the writing and photos, and the Bridge staff helped with guidance and editing. Several of the students were really proud of what they created. It was incredibly rewarding and I felt like I learned how valuable it is not just to listen to students but to step back and let them lead and teach me. I'm learning that I have so much to learn. Also, I'm hopeful that this can be a semi-regular partnership between our org and the after school program — so I'm eager to see how we can collaborate together again! Paula Diaz-Soet | Conecta Arizona Cafecito en el Jardín was an event consisting of interactive and participatory activities from misinformation training and networking bingo, to a storytelling segment and a folkloric dance performance. Overall, the event represents a shift toward a more participatory and community-centered approach, where listening is a core part of how we produce journalism. Caitlin Schmidt | Tucson Spotlight Tucson Spotlight began hosting O'odham Media. Led by Trinity Norris, a journalist and photographer from Sells District on the Tohono O'odham Nation, O'odham Media is a community-first storytelling platform dedicated to uplifting O'odham voices, culture, and lived experiences through writing and photography. We supported the production of two editions of a physical newsletter, 150 copies total, bringing O'odham Media's community-centered Indigenous journalism directly into readers' hands. Stickers were also produced to support grassroots marketing and build broader awareness of the platform. Yael Bright | J. The Jewish News of Northern California We built an event centering community stories, archives and local history by using rotary phones for participants to record audio stories on how their families came to the Bay Area. We then kept the line open and published these voicemails in chronological order with transcripts for participants to share with their loved ones and for readers to learn more about their community. We are now keeping the line open indefinitely, for readers to call in and share at their convenience.