AAJA Receives McCormick Foundation Grant

December 21, 2009

The new project will launch in 2010 and continue through 2011, examining media consumption habits in segments of the Asian-American community and working to ensure that the voices of Asian Americans are not lost in the changing media landscape.

The project will engage Asian ethnic media in the Chicago area, Arab American and other youth in the Detroit area and Asian Americans in a New York neighborhood, teaching multimedia skills and developing potential business models for news organizations to reach these underserved populations through emerging technology platforms.

“The ELP Media Demonstration projects are incredibly innovative and exciting for AAJA,” AAJA National President Sharon Chan said. “This project will answer a question the entire industry is asking: 'Where are the opportunities to not just save, but create new journalism that serves diverse audiences?'”

The culmination of the initiatives in the three cities is expected to be highlighted at the 15th Anniversary ELP Media Demonstration Project Closing Summit in June 2011 in Chicago and at the AAJA National Convention in August 2011 in Detroit.

“Having a voice in the media is increasingly tied to rapidly changing technology,” said Dinah Eng, director of AAJA's Executive Leadership Program. “This initiative will help Asian Americans tell their stories in new ways, and explore the future of media on multiple fronts.”

A portion of this grant also supports the 2010 Executive Leadership Program's Introductory Session, which will be held in New York on March 10-14.

Founded by Eng in 1995, the Executive Leadership Program has helped hundreds of Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists develop skills for newsroom leadership, successful management and executive decision-making.

The McCormick Foundation has been a longtime funder of ELP and AAJA. That support will be leveraged as the new Media Demonstration Project draws on the skills and dedication of program graduates for guidance.

"This project will help ethnic news organizations improve the quality of coverage, broaden their media story-telling range and build the audiences they serve," said Clark Bell, the McCormick Foundation's journalism program director. "AAJA has the talent and firepower to maximize the impact of our investment."

Chan noted that the challenges facing the media industry today call for visionary leaders with innovative, inclusive approaches to news coverage.

“McCormick's support for ELP created a generation of newsroom leaders, and this new grant will seed a new group of innovative, entrepreneurial leaders,” Chan said. “We're very grateful for McCormick's support of diversity in journalism.”