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Last year, NEC embarked on an experiment with our partners The Media Consortium and the Laura Flanders Show which we called the New Economies Reporting Project (NERP).
We set out by asking:
One, how could we educate journalists to delve deeper into all the aspects of the new economy movement? To show how people are working together to solve common problems; building worker-owned coops to create good jobs and bring equity to the workplace. Starting community land trusts to make housing affordable for everyone. Developing democratic financial institutions like credit unions and processes for community-controlled investment. Taking back our land, our schools, our water from corporations—because what we need in common should be owned in common.
Two, how could members of NEC learn to tell the story of the new economy in a way that would resonate with communities on the ground and many more who are resisting the current administration. How could we jumpstart a widespread public conversation about transformative solutions happening right now across the country?
The result after six months of our experiment?
- 6 press briefings led by NEC members covering various aspects of the new economy movement
- 30+ news stories about New Economy Coalition organizations and initiatives
- 12+ Journalists willing and able to report regularly on New Economy issues
- 30+ Activist organizers participating in media trainings in Chicago, California and virtually
Check out some of the articles produced:
"Can Tiny Houses Halt the Expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline?" by Ayşe Gürsöz for Colorlines
"Philando Castile’s Death Inspires Black Economic Movement" by Cirien Saadeh for The Uptake
"Community Focused Economic Models, Cooperative Housing, and the New Economy Coalition" by RJ Lozada for Making Contact
"Worker Cooperatives Offer Real Alternatives to Trump's Retrograde Economic Vision" by Sarah Aziza for Truthout
"Imagining Another World Post-Irma" by Lewis Wallace for Scalawag
"Citizens Begin Reclaiming Coal Country After Decades of Corporate Land Grabs" by Emma Eisenberg for YES!
"Public Bank Fans Want to Get Portland City Council on Board" by Deonna Anderson for Next City
"How a Maryland Town Is Turning Its New Deal Past Into a New Economy Present" by Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo for In These Times
"Drink Your Coffee Black-Owned" by Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo for In These Times
Check out what participants said about the media trainings:
“My experience in attending the Media Training with Laura Flanders was EMPOWERING. It gave me a new learned perspective on communications and how it can be engineered to best interface our narratives! I would definitely attend another one if the chance were to arise again. Thanks NEC!" – Amalya Livingston, Cooperation Jackson – Co Anchor of CPC
"In our movement spaces, we have a lot of passion and commitment, but there is a real need to learn how to deliver our messages to broader audiences from diverse spaces in a compelling way. The media training with Laura Flanders was an excellent introduction to learning the basics of presenting ourselves through media–from our physical composure to pitching essentials to relationship building with journalists. I think trainings like this are crucial to amplifying our movement messages, and look forward to seeing and participating more trainings like this!" – Anh-Thu Nguyen, Democracy at Work Institute
Thank you to our 2017 NERP journalist inaugural cohort:
Deonna Anderson, Next City
Sarah Aziza, Waging Nonviolence
Emma Eisenberg, freelancer
Ayşe Gürsöz, Indigenous Rising Media
Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, In These Times
R. J. Lozado, Making Contact
Suzanne Pajot Porter, Public News Service
Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
Cirien Saadeh, The Uptake
Mary Turck, The Uptake
Lewis Wallace, Scalawag
We are thrilled to be able to continue the program in 2018 thanks to funding from the Park Foundation.
We've just launched the 2018 program with a theme of Climate Solutions and are very excited to grow a cadre of solutions-focused movement journalists. Stay connected!
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