The Journo Fund kicked off the new year with a new round of fundraising for training the next generation of journalists.

We are very pleased to announce that we applied for and were recently awarded $2,500 through the City of Santa Fe’s Children and Youth Commission‘s Innovation Fund.

This grant will be used to pay stipends to the second cohort of interns we bring on this spring for our journalism boot camp.

Last fall, we kicked off this program by working with four local high school and college students in partnership with SITE Santa Fe. The focus of the training was arts reporting and writing; the students ultimately produced a cover story examining SITE’s Casa Tomada biennial exhibition.

Spring interns will focus on environmental reporting in Northern New Mexico. The six-week training includes two weeks of classroom training consisting of two two-hour classes; two weeks of field work for reporting with the student working independently in the field for at least one week; and two weeks of writing and editing with the student working in consultation with the program’s mentor for planning and editing. Upon successful completion, the students will have their work published in the Santa Fe Reporter, receive a $500 stipend and a certificate of completion.

We are continuing to fund raise for the fund in order to lay a foundation for this program, as well as other projects we hope to accomplish in the coming year. As always, we welcome your suggestions and ideas, as well as any financial support you can offer.

Donors who make a contribution between now and Feb. 14 receive a pair of tickets to the CCA as our way of saying thanks.