Garrett Ammesmaki, South Dakota State University Currently, Michelle serves on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.Ĭlass of 2019 (Anne Bailey/Freedom Forum) Murrow Awards winners in innovation and diversity, equity and inclusion. Michelle has served as managing editor on reporting projects that earned regional and national honors, including multiple national Edward R. She has also served as a mentor for NPR’s Next Generation Radio program, which provides intensive mentorship for college journalists. At KUNR in Reno, she co-founded a bilingual reporting initiative to provide digital coverage in Spanish and built a high school internship program to elevate youth perspectives. As a news director, Michelle focused on empowering diverse early career journalists through a variety of training programs. Before joining the organization, she ran public radio newsrooms in Reno, Nev., and Wilmington, N.C. Michelle Billman is the free press leadership and culture program manager for the Freedom Forum, overseeing all aspects of programs devoted to training journalists and those aimed at improving the culture of newsrooms. “Chips” Quinn Jr., a newspaper editor who believed in the importance of diversity in newsrooms to better reflect the communities they serve.įree Press Leadership & Culture Program Manager The new program will continue to honor the late John C. The Chips Quinn Scholars Program for Diversity in Journalism launched in 1991 with the mission to diversify the industry’s workforce pipeline. All expenses will be covered by the Freedom Forum. The Freedom Forum will offer stipends to participants to be used as career support and host an in-person gathering for training and connection. This mentoring program will pair an early career journalist with a Chips Quinn Scholars alum so that they work together over the course of several months. “Young journalists of color often lack the networks and support some of their peers may have thanks to privileges,” explained Denver Post reporter Elizabeth Hernandez, a 2014 Chips Quinn alum. While many mentorship programs focus on teaching writing and reporting skills, this initiative is strategically focused on helping early career journalists develop what are known as “power skills.” These include areas like communication, leadership, collaboration, personal development and productivity - all skills that help a journalist thrive. This groundbreaking educational content helps to foster workplace integrity and create environments free of harassment, discrimination and incivility. This initiative will incorporate unique components of the Power Shift Project curriculum, another Freedom Forum program that seeks to improve the diversity, equity and culture of newsrooms. Now, the Freedom Forum is working to expand on this pilot project to include early career journalists from more news organizations, with a target launch in the fall of 2023. Since 2020, the Chips Quinn Scholars program has been enlisting mentors from its pool of more than 1,400 alumni and pairing them with interns working in various Gannett newsrooms across the country. Brooks, a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch and 2006 Chips Quinn alum.įrom 1991-2019, the program was focused on placing diverse journalists into newspaper internships and evolved to address a critical need in journalism. “Mentoring means I can pass on the knowledge I've acquired from my career to the up-and-coming storytellers in hopes that they'll be even better journalists than I could have imagined,” said Khristopher J. Perhaps most important, a mentor can become a trusted confidant who encourages you to advocate for what you need to thrive professionally. That’s because experienced mentors can provide advice and camaraderie, along with being a sounding board for new ideas or even an inspiration to emulate. Within a fast-paced and rapidly changing industry, we’ve heard from veteran newsroom leaders and new employees alike that more access to mentorship is essential to retaining diverse talent. The Chips Quinn Scholars Program for Diversity in Journalism, an initiative of the Freedom Forum, provides mentorship and training for early career journalists.
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