Washington, DC – Before Esmeralda Bermúdez earned accolades for her chronicles about Latino life for the Los Angeles Times, she penned one of her earliest columns about her family’s migration story in 2003 for The Latino Reporter. Before Javier C. Hernández covered China and culture for the New York Times, he chased news about the underfunding of news industry diversity programs during NAHJ’s 2006 convention. Before Marissa Lang won a Pulitzer Prize for her work covering the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol for The Washington Post, she pounded the pavement in San Juan for NAHJ’s 2009 Student Project.
For nearly four decades, NAHJ’s Student Project, The Latino Reporter, has helped launch the careers of some of the most talented journalists in the industry. NAHJ was the first among its sister organizations in 1987 to create a weeklong training program leveraging members’ expertise to help college students produce an independent news outlet at its annual conference.
But ensuring the program can continue for decades to come will require the generosity and support of NAHJ members to help fill a funding gap and keep the program strong and sustainable. The costs of running the project have increased significantly over the years. To secure its future, NAHJ created an advisory board to plan ahead and evolve the project.
The Latino Reporter is NAHJ’s signature student training program and has been an incubator for talent and leadership in our industry. It’s also one of the primary vehicles for fulfilling the organization’s overall mission: Increasing the number of Latina/e/o/x journalists in newsrooms and industry leadership.
The Latino Reporter boasts among its alumni award-winning photojournalists, podcast hosts, morning news anchors, section editors and columnists at some of the most important news outlets across the nation. Many others have also gone on to have impactful careers in education, business, communications and nonprofit work.
In honor of that history and record of achievement, NAHJ is launching a spring giving campaign with the goal of raising $20,000 for the 2023 Student Project and future programs and planning. Starting April 10, members and donors can for the next month donate directly to the Latino Reporter here or through our member portal when registering for the conference or renewing membership.
We also invite student and mentor alumni to share their Latino Reporter memories with us and be featured on our social media channels as part of the campaign. If any member is interested in joining the advisory board, please contact Vice President of Print Arelis Hernández.
Your donation will support:
- College students mentored by professionals in an immersive newsroom experience.
- The equipment and tools required to produce the multimedia news content published at LatinoReporter.org.
- Training to help students compete for jobs and internships.
- Bringing greater diversity to newsrooms.
