Student journalists to be hosted by the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and CUNY campuses in Queens and Brooklyn for summer reporting workshops.

Lila Murillo

CLARIFY participants at a reporting workshop at CUNY’s York College.

CLARIFY News, a training program in public service journalism, announced this week its first cohort in partnership with NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP.) As the nation’s largest youth employment program, SYEP connects youth between the ages of 14 and 24 with career exploration opportunities and paid work experiences.

Fran Reilly, director of CLARIFY News and co-executive director of City Limits News said, “CLARIFY News is building a pipeline to a diverse and inclusive news ecosystem. We look forward to working with SYEP to give youth an opportunity to gain skills that support their entry into the workforce or higher education, while fostering a commitment to media literacy and civic engagement.”

The six-week program will be held at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. “We’re thrilled to welcome the students to our J-School,” said Allison Lichter, associate dean. “We are excited to be the institution to help launch this training for our city’s next generation of journalists.”

CLARIFY News workshops will also be held at CUNY campuses at York College in Queens and Brooklyn College, in partnership with Press Pass NYC, a nonprofit that helps students develop high school newspapers. Press Pass NYC founder Lara Bergen said, “We’re excited that more students will not only learn the fundamentals of journalism but will bring news skills and enthusiasm back to school in the fall to apply to their own high school newspapers.”

The goals of CLARIFY News are to:

  • Improve youth media literacy
  • Build and nurture a pipeline of diverse journalists
  • Strengthen students’ research and writing skills
  • Expand civics education and  encourage community engagement

Launched in 2014 by City Limits News, CLARIFY News has more than 400 alumni. The innovative program has been supported by The Dow Jones News Fund, Google News Initiative, Harman Family Foundation, and the Pinkerton Foundation.

For more information, contact Fran Reilly at Fran@clarifynews.org.