Washington, DC – The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) and the National Association of Hispanic Publications Foundation (NAHP Foundation) are kicking off the second year of its successful joint internship program to support Latino journalism students interested in careers at Hispanic or Spanish-language media publications.

Four students will be selected to be in this second class of the internship program, sponsored by Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company. The aspiring Latino journalists will complete summer internships at Hispanic or Spanish-language publications in the nation’s capital in 2007. Two of the four participants in last year’s inaugural class of interns were offered full-time positions at their respective publications after completing the internship.

The four students or recent graduates this year will begin their internship experience with intense training at the daily newspaper or website produced at NAHJ’s 25th Anniversary Convention and Media & Career Expo in San Jose, California, June 13-16.

“With Ford’s support, we’re building on last year’s success to meet the needs of the growing Spanish-language media and Hispanic publications in the country right now,” said Iván Román, NAHJ’s executive director. “We need to tap into that growing number of young journalists who can bring us news and information in Spanish or in both languages. Our changing society demands it.”

“Half of our student interns engaged in this program were hired by our partner publications last year. Ford Motor Company Fund’s support for this outreach program is achieving its goals of placing aspiring Hispanic journalists in new career positions, improving our Hispanic publications with good new writers and better informing our community with vibrant new reporters.” said Eddie Escobedo, Chairman of the Board of the NAHP Foundation.

The internship program is designed to help grow a pool of journalists who will have developed closer ties to Hispanic-centered publications or Spanish-language publications and, through these experiences, consider careers at these types of media companies. Spanish-language publications often struggle with finding staff or contributors who not only can write in Spanish, but who know the local community, know how the U.S. society, economy and political systems work, and who are well versed in the practices and resources available when doing U.S.-style journalism.

“This is an innovative partnership with two leading organizations in the field of Hispanic media and journalism that furthers our commitment to educating Hispanic youth,” said Raquel "Rocky" Egusquiza, Director of Community Development and International Strategy, Ford Motor Company Fund, “Ford is excited to be playing a role in the development of the next generation of Latino journalists through this internship program.”

As part of the program, NAHJ and NAHP will also select four editors or publishers at Spanish-language or Hispanic-themed publications in Washington, D.C. who will serve as the 2007 hosts for the journalism students and will commit to serving as advisors and mentors to the students for a period of one year after the internship. NAHJ is the largest association for Hispanic journalists in the country with close to 2,000 members. Founded in 1984, the mission of NAHJ is to increase the number of Latino journalists working in the nation's newsrooms and to improve the media's coverage of the Latino community.

NAHP Foundation works with more than 350 Hispanic publications throughout the United States. Those publications circulate more than 20,000,000 copies that reach half of the Hispanic households in this country each week. Its mission is excellence in Hispanic publishing.