Release from CivicStory
Statewide Sustainability News Project Launches in New Jersey
Higher Ed. Leaders Cite Urgency of Ecological Awareness, Action
South Orange, NJ, November 14, 2019 // The New Jersey Sustainability Reporting Hub, a first-of-its-kind collaborative media project intended to amplify news about environmental sustainability from around the state, has launched and published its first 12 multimedia stories.
The new NJSR Hub is the first statewide media effort focused entirely on sustainability news and information, an innovative fellowship program that provides stipends paid directly to newsrooms to support their reporters’ involvement.
“People want to know what they can do to address our ecological crisis and live responsibly,” said Dr. Maurice Hall, dean of arts and communications at the College of New Jersey and member of the NJSR Hub advisory board. “With the health of future generations at risk, a broad effort to disseminate sustainability news is critical.”
The inaugural group of NJSR Hub fellows are reporters working with eight diverse New Jersey area newsrooms.
Participating outlets include The Record (part of the USA Today network); The Press of Atlantic City; WBGO Newark Public Radio; The Nubian News (a Trenton-based bi-weekly); Cape May County Herald; VillageGreenNJ.com (Maplewood-South Orange); Green Philly, and New Jersey Hills Media Group (15 north-central NJ weekly newspapers).
“The NJSR fellowship enables a frequency of sustainability stories that would normally be beyond our capacity as a local site,” said Mary Barr Mann, co-founder of VillageGreenNJ.com.
Stories are reported independently, and publishers are not obliged to post each other's content. An advisory board of educators and journalists provides guidance and oversight. All stories can be found under the Creative Commons license at www.SRHub.org.
The NJSR Hub was developed by four founding organizations: CivicStory (project lead), the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education, and the New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability.
The pilot phase for the NJSR Hub has multiple funding sources, including small grants from foundations, contributions from founding organizations, and individual donations.
A resolution of support for the NJSR Hub project was approved by the New Jersey Presidents’ Council on October 21 at a meeting in New Brunswick. “New Jersey’s colleges and universities are cultivating younger generations whose well-being depends on healthy ecosystems,” said Dr. Joel Bloom, President of NJIT, and Chair, NJPC. “The public should be fully informed of sustainability initiatives in our communities, on campuses, and throughout the state.”
A second round of New Jersey Sustainability Reporting fellowship applications through newsrooms is expected to be announced in December.
For further information, contact: Kevin Englert, Project Director at ProjectDirector@civicstory.org
Attachments:
NJSR Hub Project Summary
NJCP Resolution dated 10/21/19
Founding Partner contacts:
Michael Chodroff, President, Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education ~ info@ANJEE.org
Beth Stolting, Director, Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education ~ director@ANJEE.org
Susan Haig, Founder, CivicStory ~ sh@CivicStory.org, 813-951-0419
Stefanie Murray, Director, Center for Cooperative Media ~ murrayst@montclair.edu, 973-655-3879
Dr. Ashwani Vasishth, President, New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability ~vasishth@ramapo.edu
****
|
|
|
|