Lede New Orleans part of $100,000 grant to support and grow youth journalism project
The grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation will support Lede New Orleans and its work engaging underrepresented youth, ages 18–25, in community-driven reporting.
Lede New Orleans, a community media startup, will grow its youth-driven multimedia storytelling project in Fall 2020 with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Listening Post Collective, an Internews project. Lede New Orleans, founded by former Times-Picayune reporter Jennifer Larino and filmmaker Ejaaz Mason, works to promote equitable representation in media and supports local emerging journalists from underrepresented communities.
Over the next 12 months, young adults in Lede New Orleans’ fellowship program will work alongside professional mentors to produce a 20-part video series profiling young creators and changemakers from underrepresented communities in New Orleans. Fellows, ages 18–25, will get paid to learn and engage in hands-on multimedia journalism work, including interviewing, visual storytelling and video production. The series will publish online in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021.
In addition, the Listening Post Collective will provide Lede New Orleans with organizational capacity and guidance as the startup establishes itself as a nonprofit media organization that is reflective of and responsive to the community.
“There is great journalism being done in New Orleans, but it’s shrinking and, unfortunately, has fallen short in reflecting the full range of voices that make up our community, specifically communities of color,” said Jennifer Larino, founder of Lede New Orleans. “Our fellowship program works to elevate and amplify the young voices in our city’s Black, Brown and LGBT+ communities, helping them tell their own stories and reach a wider audience that needs to hear from them.”
Larino and Mason founded Lede New Orleans in 2019. The nonprofit startup works to bring young adults, journalists and creatives together to produce equitable, community-driven media that informs the public and equips the next generation of diverse storytellers with the skills, knowledge and network they need to drive change in their communities.
“Lede New Orleans is not only working to educate young people about the multimedia journalism career pathway. We’re also pushing for equity in local media spaces that do not fully represent the communities they serve,” Mason said. “Black communities created so much of what we recognize as New Orleans culture. Yet Black voices are few in local media. The culture has been under attack, and we’re striving to reverse the damage.”
Lede New Orleans works one-on-one with up-and-coming storytellers through its youth fellowship program, which supports local Black, Persons of Color, and LGBT+ youth with an interest in journalism. Lede New Orleans also offers journalism and film workshops.
Under this partnership, the Listening Post Collective will conduct an information ecosystem analysis in New Orleans. The analysis is used to understand community information needs as well as ways to reach and collaborate with audiences. The Listening Post Collective will also support Lede New Orleans in developing a three-year strategic framework for the organization, including plans for long-term sustainability.
“The Listening Post has its roots in New Orleans,” said Listening Post Collective founder Jesse Hardman. “When we started in 2013, we realized entire neighborhoods were ignored by most local media outlets. One way to change that is to listen to and involve communities in the news process. Lede New Orleans is poised to shift the narrative of who gets heard, who gets to report the news, and how important local information makes its way to the wider city. I’m thrilled that the Listening Post Collective can help Lede establish a new paradigm for journalism in New Orleans.”
Lede New Orleans launched its youth fellowship in March 2020 with a cohort of five local young adults. The cohort reported on how Covid-19 was affecting their communities through written and visual work.
Lede New Orleans starts its Fall 2020 fellowship program in September. The program is open to local youth ages 18–25. Go to www.ledenola.org/fellowships for information on the program and the application process.
Lede New Orleans is a nonprofit community media organization that brings local young adults, journalists and creatives together to produce equitable media, informing the public and equipping the next generation of diverse storytellers with the skills, knowledge and network they need to drive change in their communities. We envision a future where local media reflects the community it serves. For more information us at www.ledenola.org.
The Listening Post Collective, a project of Internews, works to ensure that underserved communities in the United States are represented in and have access to news and information that improves their lives. Since 2013, LPC has supported the capacity of dozens of community-based media projects across the country through mentoring, training, and guidance. www.listeningpostcollective.org
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.
