Southern journalism students will be writing articles and reporting on youth mental health as part of a national grant awarded to the Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative from Solutions Journalism Network.
Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin, an author and manager for training and curriculum for Solutions Journalism Network, is working with students all over the United States as part of the Student Media Challenge grant. During a meeting with the eight journalism programs selected, Bloyd-Peshkin said the grant was “competitive,” and that selecting just eight programs to receive the funding “was a really tough choice to make.”
The Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative is an organization made up of journalism departments at college and university campuses across the state, including Southern, and publishes CT Community News. Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the reporting of people solving social problems and what can be learned from it.
Harriet Jones, editor and project manager for CTSJC, told the group during its first meeting that the Connecticut students will work together to report on mental health issues for youth in the state.
“We publish with as many as 10 different professional publications around the state, so we are quite hopeful to get a lot of work that we do with this cohort published widely,” Jones said.
Training is once a month for a year and consists of workshops, informative tips when reporting and sharing ideas.
In addition to CTSJC, the grant was also given to Communities of Hope Civic Media at Roger Williams University, The Collegian at San Joaquin Delta College, Madison Commons at University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Post at Ohio University, The Daily Collegian at Pennsylvania State University, Daily Campus at Southern Methodist University, and the Daily Northwestern at Northwestern University.
“We’re super excited to being chosen to take part,” Jones said. “We’re really excited to get to know all the other members of this cohort and to be wowed by your work.”