
Local that Works spotlights innovative and replicable content, engagement and revenue initiatives at public radio and TV stations and nonprofit and digital news organizations in the U.S. LTW includes an annual contest and a database (below). LTW produces webinars that offer insights into projects and organizations that are reshaping local civic journalism.
Explore the database of 553 Local that Works projects. Check out Local that Works contest Winners, Finalists and Semifinalists by clicking on those colored tags.
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19 results found.
Report LA Fellowship
KCRW FoundationThe KCRW Report LA Fellowship offers two full-time fellowship positions that pay a living-wage salary and benefits. The program is focused on training young journalists from diverse backgrounds.
WUNC’s Youth Reporting Initiative (aka WUNC Youth Voices)
North Carolina Public Radio - WUNCWe used virtual instruction to reach more young journalists and empower them to report on their communities in NC. The result was a more robust and diverse YRI that benefited WUNC and its audience.
Education Counts Michiana
Michiana Public Broadcasting Corporation/WNITEducation Counts is a weekly program helping educators learn from other schools in the region, share their successes and challenges with the community, and increase support of education.
CareerExplore Northwest
KSPS PBSCareerExplore Northwest is an educational initiative created by KSPS PBS as a workforce development solution for our viewing region. Far beyond a typical job search website, it helps students and adults discover viable career paths by providing behind-the-scenes videos and easily accessible answers to questions about in-demand jobs in the Spokane region and what it takes to get them.
Block Club Chicago’s Free West Side Resource Fair
Block Club ChicagoBlock Club Chicago hosted a free resource fair on the West Side, bringing together 21 community organizations to offer free food, toiletries and health screenings to residents. Our neighborhood reporter was also on hand to take story tips and meet people.
Aiding the Southern Nevada Community through COVID-19
Vegas PBSAfter the governor of Nevada ordered the closure of all schools in the state, Vegas PBS immediately took action. Using the station’s capacity for digital distribution and production, Vegas PBS facilitated at-home learning with curriculum-based programming, provided critical information about COVID-19 and assisted displaced workers with our online workforce training programs.
Beacons CodeKids
KTCA - Twin Cities PBSTwin Cities PBS (TPT) fostered critical STEM learning in Minneapolis Beacons Afterschool Clubs by engaging students, families and educators with an important 21st-century workforce skill: computer science and coding. To add to the fun, TPT invited kids’ favorite PBS KIDS characters to learn along by using the innovative Scratch Jr coding program.
Student Reporting Labs Homegrown Fellowship
PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (WETA)PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs supports high school journalists in the DC/Maryland/Virginia Metro Area through our Homegrown Fellowship. Over six months, students received professional training from video journalists, and by producing broadcast-worthy video news segments, students acquired and honed skills in writing, video production and editing.
BenitoLink’s Inclusion X Project
BenitoLink.comBenitoLink is a hyperlocal nonprofit news organization launched by two young Latinx staff members with support from a local United Way grant. It is working to expand the voice of the Latino community in the region by making sure its news coverage reflects the local demographics, and developing a youth program that teaches journalism and work skills.
Report LA Fellowship
austin.frank@kcrw.org
http://www.kcrw.com/about/careers-volunteers/kcrw-report-la-fellowship
KCRW is an award winning, multi-platform news, arts, and culture organization that has been serving Southern California for nearly four decades.
Representing Los Angeles means representing an expansive number of identities drawn along many lines, including those of race, class, gender, and sexuality. As an organization, KCRW has a serious commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Yet, like other public radio stations, when it’s time to hire journalists we often find ourselves seeking to fill positions with producers and editors who already have the skills and experience needed to hit the ground running. Often, we would dip into a small, homogeneous pool of the same experienced professionals who rotate between KPCC, American Public Media and NPR West.
In order to broaden our potential hiring pool, KCRW created the Report LA Fellowship program in 2019. This program offers two full-time, 18-month fellowship positions that pay a living-wage salary and benefits. KCRW staff provide rigorous training in digital recording and editing, show production, story planning, writing, and reporting. The goal is to graduate our Fellows with the skills to be hired as public radio or podcast professionals.
KCRW welcomed our first cohort of Report LA Fellows in September 2019. During their tenure, Angel Carreras and Danielle Chiraguayo worked across a broad spectrum of KCRW’s programming. They have produced content for “Press Play”, “Greater LA”, “Morning Edition”, “All Things Considered”, and KCRW’s digital and social platforms. KCRW’s Managing Editor and other staff have provided training and mentorship in various areas across the station.
As our first class of Fellows was about to graduate into a tough pandemic job market, we were very excited to extend their fellowships to last through August 2021.
Perhaps most exciting of all, both our Fellows are leaving the fellowship to take full-time media jobs. Angel Carreras had multiple job offers and accepted a position at a legacy media company in LA. We welcomed Danielle Chiriguayo as a digital news producer in the KCRW newsroom this past summer.
We are now in the process of hiring our second cohort of fellows, who will join KCRW this fall. The Report LA Fellowship has emphasized the immense power of representation in media, and we’re thrilled that this program has been so successful.
The stories our fellows produced for KCRW are representative of the communities in which they grew up, and have received positive attention. Five of their stories are finalists for LA Press Club Awards this year: Danielle’s stories “How LAUSD’s Classic Coffee Cake Evolved and Led to Love '' and “Face Shields, Verbal Abuse and Persistent Danger. Restaurant Workers Share Their Reopening Stories,” as well as Angel’s stories “USC students and volunteers help deliver thousands of gallons of water to Skid Row every Sunday,” "This LA Barber Started Giving $20 Haircuts in His Garage After COVID-19 Closed His Shop,” and "Hoop Bus Dedicates Itself to Kobe Bryant, Black Lives Matter, Unity in LA.''
Our fellows are proud of the ways they’ve been able to give back to their respective communities as journalists. Moreover, each of them has provided mentoring to other young journalists of color who have reached out for their guidance and support. In this way, the training KCRW provided has created a ripple effect in the community of aspiring reporters and producers in LA.
Within the public radio community, we’ve heard from our colleagues at other stations who are eager to attempt this model of training for young journalists. We hope this model can provide a replicable way to diversify newsrooms and give back to the communities that stations call home.
The Report LA fellowship generated enough revenue from major donors and our foundation partners to cover two years of salaries and expenses for our two fellows.