News Ambassadors: the first edition 🎉

Hi readers, and welcome to our first-ever newsletter! 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏿

We’re excited to catch you up on the News Ambassadors program and highlight the amazing work done by our partners. If you care about journalism upholding democracy, and strengthening local journalism and communities, support us by donating, following us on Instagram, or forwarding this newsletter to a friend.

If you’re new to the project and need a TLDR: We connect student reporters in politically or demographically dissimilar areas to collaborate on stories that explore solutions and nuanced coverage through specialized reporting techniques and community engagement. We foster connections between journalism schools and public radio stations nationwide to help fill gaps in local news. The strongest pieces will then air in both locations. 

We’re excited to bring on new local reporting partners in rural Texas and urban Illinois, in partnership with the Texas Center for Community Journalism and the Illinois Latino News Network, respectively.

📰 One Big Story 📰

In this segment of the newsletter, we provide additional national context on local news produced by News Ambassadors. 

Izzy Wagner from the University of Georgia reported on ULead, a nonprofit based in Athens, Georgia founded in 2014 as a resource for undocumented students. Focusing on the Latino community, the nonprofit assists with programs such as college preparation, mentoring, and DACA support. Listen to the WUGA story here. Izzy’s story was also co-published with our partner the Latino News Network. 

Broader context: Around 80% of the nearly 120,000 undocumented students who graduated high school in 2023 don’t qualify for DACA. Contrary to popular belief, the issue isn’t split cleanly down partisan lines. In a recent study from the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant rights advocacy organization, 76% of registered voters, including 74% of Republicans, support bipartisan immigration reforms that strengthen border security, allow immigrants brought to the United States as children to earn citizenship, and ensure a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers. 

🌱Knowing and Growing 🌱

In this section of the newsletter, readers get a behind-the-scenes look at how we’re building the News Ambassadors program with our partners.

We spoke with Charlotte Varnum, a professor at the University of Georgia and supervisor of the university’s student publication, The Red and Black.

What aspect of News Ambassadors did you find most useful for your area of focus in journalism and why?

I found the specific story structure recommendations in solutions journalism the most useful, as well as thoughtful collaborations with my partner outlet, WUGA. We were able to craft a productive community engagement event which showcased key issues to prioritize in the storytelling phase.

What were student, local news partners, and community partner reactions to the story that was published?

Students were thrilled to see their hard work leave the classroom, and we received great feedback from our local news partner on the quality of the work and the fact that my class was able to fill some reporting gaps. It really was a win-win!

📖 What We’re Reading 📖

“For decades, U.S. elections have mutated further from choosing the best public servants for the job to popularity and fundraising contests for cults of personality and special interests,” Hearken CEO Jennifer Brandel writes in Poynter. “The reasons behind this are varied, systemic and, perhaps at this point, intractable,”

The good news is, interruptions to these patterns are possible, she says, and need to be attempted from every angle.

That’s all, folks! See you next month. If you’ve read this far, send us an emoji of your favorite fruit. 🍅