Applications Are Now Being Accepted for the 2023-24 Student Media Challenge

APPLICANTS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE 2023-24 STUDENT MEDIA CHALLENGE 

The year-long cohort will focus on student mental health 

Sometimes things turn out way better than imagined.

That's true of SJN's Student Media Challenge, launched last spring to inspire a cohort of college journalists to dig deeply into solutions journalism's principles and practices. 

As the academic year nears completion, the eight participating schools -- chosen from a pool of 70 applications -- have produced a steady stream of bona fide solutions stories across platforms, many of which now reside in the Solutions Story Tracker, right alongside stories from an array of professional newsrooms from across the globe. In addition, student work was distributed widely in communities -- rural, suburban and urban -- across the continent.

Building on that success, and with gratitude to the first-year students and their academic advisors, we are seeking applicants for a second Student Media Challenge for the 2023-24 academic year. The focus for the year will be on reporting on responses to the growing and urgent issues around student mental health.

Finalists will receive $10,000 to cover costs related to work for this cohort. Students will also receive SoJo training and one-on-one support throughout the school year.

Finalists for the cohort will be announced in May, with work to begin in September.
Here's a link to apply.

If the first year was any indication, we expect the program's sophomore year will spring forth a committed community of practice. We've found that college students not only embrace solutions journalism, but they also find refreshing and surprising ways to deliver it.

The first cohort included California State University-Long Beach, University of Georgia, Howard University, Michigan State University, University of Missouri,  Santa Ana College, Queens University and Washington State University.

Questions? Contact michaeldavis@solutionsjournalism.org.

VIISTA — Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates – Apr 14

VIISTA — Villanova Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates — is a 100% online interdisciplinary educational program that trains students to become immigrant advocates ready to serve migrants and refugees.

Unlike criminal proceedings in which defendants have constitutional rights to representation, in the United States, migrants are not entitled to court appointed lawyers. Six out of 10 migrants confront the immigration system without a lawyer, and many of these migrants are children. The consequences of this are substantial. The Vera Institute found that migrants are 12 times more likely to obtain available relief when they have an advocate. Lack of advocacy disrupts in life-altering ways. With each deportation order, families are separated, employers lose employees, and communities lose valued neighbors and friends. The migrant-serving community knows we need more advocates.

Students who earn VIISTA certificates will be eligible, under existing regulations, to apply to become Department of Justice “accredited representatives,” authorized to provide low-cost legal representation to migrant and refugee families when they work for DOJ “recognized organizations.”

Our curriculum is holistic – we teach about immigration from various perspectives and include all the topics needed to become effective immigrant advocates – such as interviewing, how to work with an interpreter, how to work with migrant children, factors that push people to migrate, providing trauma-informed care, trial advocacy  – and, of course, immigration law. Everything is learned in the context of what you will do to help migrants and refugees, whether on the job or in volunteer positions.

Learn more.

The Justamere Foundation is pleased to offer ten (10) scholarships to financially support passionate champions of immigrant justice to enroll in Villanova’s Interdisciplinary Immigration Studies Training for Advocates (VIISTA) program for the Summer 2023 Semester. Apply here by April 14.

The deadline to register and pay the deposit for the Summer semester is April 24.

MSU Hiring Project Manager for One Square Mile Project

Montclair State University’s (Montclair, NJ) Center for Community Engagement is hiring a Project Manager for the One Square Mile project.

Reporting to the Director of Community Action Nexus, the Project Manager, One Square Mile (OSM) works with the OSM Project Task Force to cultivate a civic engagement culture through forums, discussions, activities, events, and other means to elevate community building and collaboration. The OSM project is a comprehensive initiative designed to aid in the City of Paterson’s community development efforts. You can find more information about the One Square Mile project from this press release.

For more information about the Project Manager position and to apply, please visit this link.

Opportunities Available for Summer Research on Climate Justice

Fossil Free Research is a campaign and newly established 501(c)(3) organization to end the toxic influence of fossil fuel money on climate change-related research in universities. It is coordinated by international student divestment and climate justice activists with the support of a wide range of academics, climate experts, and university members.

Fossil Free Research has openings to support university students interested in taking on an FFR-related project (or multiple projects) this summer. It is the responsibility of students to obtain funding from their university that can be used to conduct non-profit work. If this is of interest to you, reach out to fossilfreeresearch@gmail.com and ideally have a proposal for the kind(s) of project(s) you would want to take on! 

Examples of proposals include: research into fossil fuel money ties at universities, building on FFR’s latest report, doing press/media and social media work, and developing activist curricula/our organizing training program.

For more information and questions, email: fossilfreeresearch@gmail.com.

Save the Date! 2023 Summer Leadership Institute at Montclair State University, May 31 to June 3

The Bonner Foundation is excited to host an in-person 2023 Summer Leadership Institute from Thursday, May 31 to Saturday, June 3 in partnership with Montclair State University (MSU) in Little Falls and Montclair, New Jersey. The Bonner Summer Leadership Institute (SLI) is the largest gathering of approximately 300-400 Bonner staff, students, faculty, field leaders, representatives from national partner organizations, alumni, and others across the Bonner Network.

As a proud Bonner Leader school for fourteen years, MSU is excited to share with the Bonner Network the rich history and culture of their program, campus, city of Montclair, and surrounding communities. MSU has long been a close partner of the Bonner Foundation. In addition to its Bonner Leader Program, MSU has leveraged the Community-Engaged Learning Initiative to focus on campus-wide institutionalization of community engagement. It is one of just seven institutions participating in the Pathways Project, which aspires to create pathways so that a quarter of graduates have developmental experiences tied to curriculum and co-curricular engagement. MSU is working on several place-based projects, including the One Square Mile initiative in Paterson, NJ; the Hinchliffe Stadium project to celebrate the legacy of African Americans involved in the Negro League as baseball players; and a Health Equity Corps launched during COVID-19. Additionally, MSU is one of eleven institutions developing a Next Generation Service Corps with support of the Volcker Alliance.

The theme of the 2023 Summer Leadership Institute is Together Towards Tomorrow: Juntos Lo Logramos. This theme embodies the spirit of Montclair State University as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and uplifts the importance of unity and community as central to advancing social change and equity for a brighter future. The 2023 SLI conference will be filled with exciting and invigorating sessions, including inspiring all-group sessions, skill and knowledge-based elective workshops, an immersion experience to explore the local community, a networking fair with national nonprofit organizations and graduate schools offering scholarships and special benefits for Bonner students and alumni, networking opportunities over meals and breaks, and social and community building activities for students and administrators. Additionally, there will be a robust Community-Engaged Learning Track and Pathways Project Summit designed especially for faculty and administrators working on institutional change.

Meeting and workshop registration will go live by Friday, March 10th.

For more information about the SLI, accommodations, travel, COVID considerations, and the tentative agenda, please visit: http://www.bonner.org/2023-summer-leadership-institute.

If you have any questions, please contact Ariane Hoy, Vice President, at ahoy@bonner.org, Jen Gonzalez Reyes, Program Manager, at jengr@bonner.org, or Liz Brandt, Community Engagement Director, at liz@bonner.org.