The Community Journalism program was and is a dream come true for me. I knew that I loved writing, journalism, and Cleveland, but I did not know how to connect the three. When I came across the program, the opportunity for mentorship from wonderful, kind, talented journalists and a chance to get to know other like-minded residents interested in telling our city’s many stories was an opportunity that I could not pass up.
Learning about the fundamentals of journalism and getting to work through stories with that community was a source of joy for me during my six weeks in the program. The people I met in my cohort are people I am always fond of seeing, and even when they are not publishing stories, they are doing great work around our city.
As a community journalist, I feel a new sense of excitement and power as I witness the many great and indeed, sometimes troubling things that happen in our city everyday. The Land has created a platform for us to tell all these stories, helping us ensure local heroes get an opportunity to be recognized in a way they otherwise would not be. I truly believe that it is only a matter of time before every respectable publication has a version of the program. It is an unprecedented and very welcome expansion of equity in journalism that I hope becomes the standard.
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