When a housing crisis impacts your local park

Hi readers, and welcome to your favorite 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 strengthening communities and better supporting democracy, help us by following us on Instagram, donating or forwarding this newsletter to a friend.

📻One big story 📻

This month’s featured story is by a student in our most recent cohort of News Ambassadors, who uses depolarization techniques to dig deeper into a complex story. Originally broadcast on partner station KALW in April, the story was recently highlighted by Solutions Journalism Network and featured on their Complicating the Narratives webpage. We updated a few recent developments in our story summary below.

People’s Park in Berkeley has been a symbol of progressive idealism since the ‘60s, hosting protests over the Vietnam War and the Free Speech Movement, which helped cement Berkeley’s reputation as a focal point for youth activism. It’s even listed on the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. UC Berkeley owns the 2.8 acre park and has begun constructing much-needed housing for the student population and formerly houseless residents.

Student housing near campus has caused friction between the university and the city. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of California ruled that the university had to reduce student enrollment by 3,050 students because of its lack of student housing.

The ruling effectively froze enrollment to 2020-2021 numbers, a historic low for UC Berkeley due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lawsuit came from a community group called Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, arguing that the university shouldn’t expand its enrollment when there is a shortage of available housing for students in the area.

The new park plans include preserving most of the park while also building student housing. The California Supreme Court ruled in June that the development could proceed. The site was bought by the university in 1967 via eminent domain, which allows the government to take private property for public use. There were plans to build dorms but the school ran out of funding. In 1969, protesters called for the space to be reserved as a park.

KALW Audio Academy Fellow Alastair Boone was part of the recent News Ambassadors cohort and reported on the intensity of a new round of protests on the ground in April. The university shelled out $4 million on law enforcement to keep protesters at bay. Boone’s story unpacks the park’s history, founding and significance to the community.  

Broader context:

• A recent study from PEW research found that 69% of Americans are “very concerned” about the cost of housing, up from 61% in April last year.

• College campuses have a storied history of student activism. LAist has an insightful piece on their significance. 

• ProPublica’s short documentary “Uprooted” examines a Black community’s decades-long battle to hold onto its land while a university used eminent domain to expand its campus.

✨Story Spotlight✨

News Ambassadors student reporters Lily Murphy and Lee Short report on how an animal shelter in Oglethorpe, Ga., is addressing decreasing animal adoption rates in the South. Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter created a business sponsorship program, which allows Oglethorpe and Madison County businesses to sponsor an animal by paying its adoption fee, making adoption accessible to more people. Read the story here.

Related: Oglethorpe Echo became integral to informing a rural community by taking over a publication that would have otherwise folded. They just celebrated their three year anniversary. Read more here.  

🌱Knowing and Growing 🌱

This month, we feature Dominique Hodge, a graduate student at the Missouri School of Journalism and a student in the News Ambassadors program. Now in their third year of News Ambassadors, KBIA is currently focusing their community engagement efforts in the city of Centralia, Mo., Hodge currently works for KBIA as the Project Manager of Community Outreach for the city.

What have you learned about the community by putting together engagement events?

I have learned that the community wants to be heard and listened to. [We don’t] struggle to get them to talk with us. We care. Because of this eagerness and survey responses, we are considering going back with our Missouri on Mic set-up, [an oral history and audio journalism project] to literally capture their voices. I am really excited about this because it can be a more fun outlet than filling out a questionnaire.

What have you learned from the process of community listening?

It is important to meet people where they are and listen. I have found that the community has a lot to say and unfortunately, there hasn’t been much outreach and coverage there in the past. Proximity to outlets and the prioritization of things that are close to us can curb great potential stories from being pursued. So, there are so many stories waiting to be told and I am already seeing this community has a lot to say. 

 Any advice to share for other people looking to do something similar?

I would say the best way to learn about a community is to get into the community. Go in person if you can. Explore the common areas. Look into their events. Find a time and place where the community is active in town. Then, start a conversation with who you find. To me, that is the way to truly immerse yourself and let the community know you genuinely are there for them. In my time there and working on outreach, they recognize these efforts and appreciate this work. Just be sure to keep checking in after.

👓What we’re reading👓

What if journalists used knowledge of how the brain works to better report on climate issues? The Society of Environmental Journalists published a piece, co-authored by yours truly, engagement strategist for News Ambassadors, Kristine Villanueva. Read it here. 

 That’s all folks! See you next month. Support us by following us on Instagram, donating, or forwarding this newsletter to a friend.