{"id":526,"date":"2018-08-01T18:17:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T23:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/?p=526"},"modified":"2018-08-01T19:00:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T00:00:06","slug":"nabj-veterans-passing-the-torch-to-millennials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/nabj-veterans-passing-the-torch-to-millennials\/","title":{"rendered":"NABJ veterans passing the torch to millennials"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ANFERNEE PATTERSON<\/span><\/p>\n

NABJ Monitor<\/span><\/p>\n

DETROIT \u2014 Millennial- and Generation X-aged journalists represent three-fourths of the National Association of Black Journalists\u2019 membership, according to a recent report.<\/span><\/p>\n

NABJ\u2019s 2017-2020 Strategic Plan revealed that 44 percent of NABJ memberships are students and emerging professionals, while 40 percent of its members are under the age of 35. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMore than two out of five are students, newly minted journalists or under the age of 35 and can\u2019t offer strong financial support,\u201d the strategic plan stated. \u201cThis requires that NABJ enhance its value propositions to attract more members who are financially secure in journalism and media-related fields and have the skillset to adapt to 21st century journalism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While the strategic plan acknowledged that many young journalists cannot offer strong financial support, NABJ\u2019s newly appointed executive director and longtime member Drew Berry insisted there was general excitement from the board about more millennial and Gen-X members joining the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy! It means that they are engaged in what we are doing,\u201d Berry said. \u201cOur mission is to engage them into leadership roles so that they will be better equipped than we are. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is one reason why many exhibitors come here, is because they want them,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good thing and it speaks well for this organization.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Altogether, millennial and Gen-X members comprise 75 percent of NABJ\u2019s membership, a statistic that President Sarah Glover and the rest of the current leadership have embraced moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

NABJ has set priorities that include mentoring and training young students, catering to the younger generation and becoming more involved on social media. The board of directors also wants to focus on innovation and reaching members through social media. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is unique about NABJ is that we have amazing content. We have amazing capacity\u2014our student programs, student project and annual convention,\u201d Glover said. \u201cBut we have all the gusto in (millennial and Gen-X members) to back it up that maybe other organizations don\u2019t have. But we do, so that is why we will carry on.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s not just enough to have the young members and statistics, but we have to actually create strategies around millennials because we want them to be the future and carry on the mission in the way it was intended,\u201d she added. \u201cWe as a board are going to strategically work with fund development and other stakeholders with business enterprises some strategies. So millennials will be a large part of what that will be and what that looks like.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Since its founding in December 1975, NABJ has invested in a wide variety of programming to support its student and emerging members, including its Student Education Enrichment and Development program, which includes the student multimedia projects, the student scholarship program and the annual career fair.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been supportive of the idea of youth involvement in NABJ because as we grow, age, mature and eventually retire, we also need people to come behind us to keep the organization up,\u201d said Will Sutton, former NABJ president and director of communications at Grambling State University. \u201cIf we do things right at NABJ, our youth members should get more benefits than [us] veteran journalists.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to some millennial and Gen-X members attending this year\u2019s convention, another important factor in their participation in NABJ has been discounted membership rates and reasonably priced events.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStarting out, I did not \u00a0have to pay anything,\u201d explained Chris Ruffin Jr., a news producer and assignment editor for WXII-12 News in Greensboro\/Winston Salem, North Carolina. \u201cOnce I graduated and started my first job, I had to start paying but it has been worth it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruffin, who is a graduate of Stillman College, first joined the college\u2019s student chapter in 2012. But for the first five years of his career, Ruffin was able to enjoy discounted rates for membership as an Emerging Professional member.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c(NABJ\u2019s student programming) put me in a position to succeed. \u2026 Going to various student chapter meetings, panels and being accepted to attend CNN producing workshops have helped me,\u201d he explained. \u201cEverybody who I have as friends and mentors, I met at NABJ. I built these relationships that transcended into my internship and job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two important objectives the NABJ Board of Directors has focused on are innovation and cross-training support. This means that millennial and Gen-X members can expect even more programs that they may find useful as they enter and move up in the industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Xavier University senior and NABJ student chapter President Allana Barefield said her membership has paid off. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI invested in myself by becoming involved with NABJ,\u201d she said. \u201cAlong with that, I am also the student representative for the NABJ Sports Task Force which has helped me secure an internship.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is Barfield\u2019s fifth year as a member of the organization and the fifth convention she has attended. She has previously served as a mentor for NABJ JShop, which provides training for high school journalists, and was excited about this year\u2019s convention being held in Detroit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be cool to listen to a panel of women and women in the sports industry,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing a woman in sports, people assume you do not know what you are talking about and it would be great to speak on challenges and tips when it comes to dressing [up].\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Other ideas proposed by younger members in Detroit for the convention included an increase in entertainment-based panel discussions as well as more plenary sessions featuring experienced and prominent journalists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely want to see the partnership of NABJ and NAHJ like we did one year because it is great to have diversity all in one setting,\u201d said Aaron Ladd of WMBF News. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ANFERNEE PATTERSON NABJ Monitor DETROIT \u2014 Millennial- and Generation X-aged journalists represent three-fourths of the National Association of Black Journalists\u2019 membership, according to a recent report. NABJ\u2019s 2017-2020 Strategic Plan revealed that 44 percent […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions\/573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nabjmonitor.com\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}