FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 22, 2022
NAHJ National Board Approves Three NAHJ Local Chapters
(Washington, D.C.) – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) board has approved three new NAHJ local chapters; NAHJ Tampa Bay chapter, NAHJ Charlotte Chapter, and the Capítulo Estudiantil de NAHJ de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico. NAHJ is thrilled to renew a previous chapter and approve brand new chapters that will support local journalists in their community including two professional and one student chapter.
“We are excited to usher in a new chapter for NAHJ and our local community. Presence in Tampa Bay, Florida’s largest DMA, is long overdue and we look forward to fostering a supportive environment for local journalists,” said NAHJ Chapter President Erica Guevara. “We hope to also use our expertise to pay it forward and help the next generation of emerging storytellers. ¡Llegamos, mi gente!”-
The NAHJ Charlotte Chapter has been reinstated after a brief hiatus, and the local membership looks forward to building on its prior success.
“We are delighted to start the NAHJ Charlotte Chapter again and committed to making it as successful as the previous one. We will resume our monthly meetings and forums with officials to discuss issues affecting the Latino community in Charlotte.” states Rafael Prieto. “In addition, we hope to engage in thoughtful dialogue with the city\’s media outlets\’ directors and managers about Hispanic hiring and content. Our membership roster comprises solid, experienced newspersons, including former NAHJ student members, prize winners, and one lifetime member. We thank the membership management for the efficiency in handling the process for us to become an NAHJ professional chapter.”
The student chapter, Capítulo Estudiantil de NAHJ de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico has incredible leadership to increase the association’s growing membership across the island.
President of Capítulo Estudiantil de NAHJ de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, Ariangelis Rivera Ortiz commented, “We are very happy to belong to NAHJ and our students are very excited. Both Professor Nieves and I will be counselors of the student chapter on our campus. Thank you to NAHJ for the opportunity and for such a warm welcome. We are convinced that this alliance will be very fruitful. We reiterate your order in our enclosure. We are very excited about this opportunity to accredit a NAHJ student chapter on our campus. Both the board and the student members are grateful to be able to expand our knowledge in the industry and to strengthen ties of brotherhood with other Latino students. We are eager to start working for the benefit of future Puerto Rican journalists.”
\”As a journalist and as counselor of the NAHJ student chapter in our campus, I am proud to have a group of students committed to journalism and eager to contribute to the professional development not only of themselves, but also of their fellow Puerto Ricans. We are convinced that this alliance will be of great benefit to all and will make visible the great potential of Puerto Rican students who aspire to be journalists,” said Advisor Professor, Ruth E. Hernandez Rios. “We are ready to work as a team with other student chapters on our island as well as with NAHJ at the national level. Definitely our goal is also to get more Puerto Rican journalists to successfully position themselves in the field of journalism at the United States level and why not, the world. Let\’s start by training and developing new talents who value the highest values of journalism.\”
“We’re honored to be part of an organization that advocates and supports Latino journalists not only in their professional capacity but as they prepare to navigate the current news ecosystem as undergraduate students. The members will benefit from the training and networking opportunities fostered by NAHJ. As journalism and mass communications educators, we’re excited to learn alongside our students and collaborate with practicing journalists, editors and news media administrators towards more equitable newsrooms” added Professor Yadira G. Nieves Pizarro, chapter advisor.
NAHJ local chapters play a vital role in bringing hot topics and discussion that greatly affects how we report about local communities. Now more than ever, the goal is to successfully bring transparency and fair journalism to the general public. For those interested in joining or creating a NAHJ local chapter, please contact Director of Membership, Yaneth Guillen-Diaz at yaneth (at) NAHJ (dot) org.
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About NAHJ: The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is the largest organization of Latino journalists in the United States and is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry. Established in April 1984, NAHJ created a national voice and unified vision for all Hispanic journalists. The mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latinos in the newsrooms and to work toward fair and accurate representation of Latinos in news media. NAHJ has over 4,300 members, including working journalists, journalism students, other media-related professionals and journalism educators. For more information please visit NAHJ.org or follow on Twitter @NAHJ.
Media Contact:
BA Snyder
Veritas Group for NAHJ
512.630.6337
BA@TheVeritasWay.com