Press Release

Campaign for Parity raises over $36,000 from individuals and welcomes 21 new Lifetime Members at NAHJ annual convention

Media Contact: Joseph Torres (202) 662-7143

Washington — The National Association of Hispanic Journalists raised over $36,000 in individual contributions for its Campaign for Parity during its annual convention held in Fort Worth, Texas, June 15-18. NAHJ also gained 21 new lifetime members that donated $1,000 or more to the association. These funds will benefit NAHJ’s programs and services.

To encourage individual giving to the Campaign for Parity, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Ford Foundation, and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded NAHJ a $100,000 Challenge Grant. All gifts from individuals will be matched at a 2:1 ratio by the foundations – for every $1,000 that NAHJ receives from individuals, $500 will be matched by the foundations.

NAHJ needs to raise over $163,000 in the next year in order to receive the challenge grant.

NAHJ launched the Campaign for Parity in 2003. This campaign is a five-year, $12.6 million initiative to provide: scholarships and internships to increase the pipeline of young journalism students entering the field; education and professional development to support retention and advancement; increased advocacy to promote fair coverage, and the establishment of partnerships with media companies to create new opportunities for Latinos in our nation’s newsrooms through the Parity Project.

NAHJ’s Parity Project identifies cities where Latinos are underrepresented in newsrooms but make up a significant portion of the population. In those cities, the association works jointly with existing print and broadcast outlets, area journalism schools, foundations and Latino community leaders to develop comprehensive model programs that will increase Latino newsroom presence and influence.

In 2005, NAHJ will expand the Parity Project to 12 more cities across the U.S. The association will also launch a Spanish and English-language Journalism Leadership Institute to help seasoned journalists enter management and will start the ñ Media Training Series bringing seminars to members to increase the skills and knowledge of Hispanic reporters around key industry-specific issues.

Donations to the Campaign for Parity can be made online at https://web.memberclicks.com/mc/quickForm/viewForm.do?orgId=nahj&formId=2732 or by contacting NAHJ Development Director, Azuree Salazar at (202)662-7482 or asalazar@nahj.org.