WBGO Media Fellows

While hiring initiatives exist in our community, few opportunities exist to enable our youth to actually succeed. Our late former president, Cephas Bowles, dreamed of a day when a career in public broadcasting and the skills that are inherent in working in this field would be accessible and possible for the next generation of students from his hometown and workplace, Newark, New Jersey. This program was designed in his honor. Two students from the local Newark community are given the hands on opportunity to be mentored by our news team and Jazz Night in America team for 8 weeks during the summer. They learn first hand everything from pro tools to podcasting to meeting etiquette to listening skills gleaned from interviewing techniques. They have real time deliverables and are paid a realistic working wage. However, they are not the only recipient of the learning experience, as we as an organization value the perspective and culture that they in turn bring to WBGO. Already we have seen other arts not for profits in our community use this program as a model for mentorship programs and our hope is that it serves as a way of bringing not for profit arts to the forefront for career choices for our youth.