Dear Phillips Community –
My name is Cirien Saadeh and I am a community journalist and community journalism educator. I am also the founder of the Journalism of Color Training Center (JCTC). At the JCTC, we teach community journalism and we work with community outlets, like the alley, to make community journalism education accessible to folks at the community level.
The insert you’re about to read is a publication culminating after nearly 18 months of planning and conducting community journalism training workshops. We are SO excited for you to read it. This project came together through a partnership between the Phillips West Neighborhood Organization (PWNO), the official neighborhood organization for the Phillips West Neighborhood and community partner Alley Communications, the nonprofit and community-governed publisher of the alley, as well as JCTC.
I want to let you know what to expect.
The “community journalists-in-training” who published with us came from all walks of life – all focused on lifting up and centering the Phillips Community and its residents. Some community members came to us because they read the alley and they learned about the opportunity to receive professional-level community journalism training through workshops and mentorship. Others came to us through organizational relationships that we maintain and develop.
Our writers include residents from Phillips, others across Minneapolis, and students from St. Catherine University.
A few notes about some of the reporting you’ll see:
Community journalists-in-training had the freedom to pick and narrow down any issue important to them. JCTC worked with them, from “pitch to promotion,” to make those stories a reality.
A major piece of this training is “media literacy” and “community literacy,” and the idea that our communities have something to teach us about the media that serves them.
Students at St. Kate’s were enrolled in a “Global Search for Justice: Media Justice” course and, for that project, we brought in interviewees to class, so you will see some recurring source names.
As you read this special insert, the alley, PWNO, and I would appreciate hearing your feedback!
Write a Letter to the Editor (see page 2 of the alley for information), email copydesk@alleynews.org, or write an article and submit it by the 12th of the month for possible publication the following month.
If you would like to support this and similar efforts by the alley, JCTC, and PWNO, visit https://alleynews.org/ and phillipswest.org to donate, volunteer, and get plugged into our community work!
As you read the paper, let me know if you’re interested in completing the community journalism certificate program that your fellow community members completed. Email me at ciriens@journalismofcolor.com.
With gratitude,
Cirien Saadeh, PhD
Journalism of Color Training Center
