JOC turns nine🎉 and is building toward 10
We’re seeking to pass the admin torches to the next era of community leaders and we’ve got a whole year to do it
Happy birthday, JOC community!! 🥳 Please take a moment to throw your hands up, scream, take a breath and read on…
A milestone like this is cause for wild celebration, deep reflection and looking ahead. We and our fellow admins want to use this next year to think intentionally about how we pass the admin torches to the next era of leaders, keep the communities we’ve convened here thriving, and celebrate our 10th birthday next year.
It’s been nine very long years since Julia first signed up for Slack and registered the workspace: crayhola.slack.com.
The year was 2015, Aaron and Julia were working at The Center for Investigative Reporting (aka Reveal aka now merged with Mother Jones!) where we bonded over journalism, data, music, graduating from San Francisco State University and, of course, being a journalist of color in a majority white newsroom — within a predominantly white industry.
Julia spoke publicly about the origins of the JOC Slack in a speech in 2019 when the JOC admins were awarded the Online News Association’s Community Award:
“… Even in the smallest of newsrooms, it’s never just one person making it all happen. There’s an invisible infrastructure that exists that often isn’t bylined or credited. As a journalist of color working in the digital space, when you fall into one of these nontraditional roles, the loneliness and lack of support can be acutely felt. …
JOCs tapped into an urgent need for community and support. One that was lacking in this industry we all love — and are desperate to thrive in.”
In those first few weeks of the community, it was just a few of us chatting — JOCs from CIR and other Bay Area newsrooms. We went on to utilize meetups and conferences to spread the word and invite folks in.
Almost a decade later and we’ve gathered more than 4,300 members from across the globe. Literally thousands of journalists of color who actively seek community and support. 4,300 JOCs who continue to find ways to help one another through journalism, life and the intersection of those two things national crises after national crises. JOCs who have raised money for one another, made space for mental health, shared recipes, spilled tea, broken rules, made up new ones, cried, cackled, organized events — and shared stories, dreams and memes.
Ultimately, what happens in JOC aspires to make an impact in real life.
“… When JOCs advise each other on salary negotiations, and they get paid more — that is helping to move the needle on equity in our industry.
When JOCs mentor each other on stories and coverage — that is helping to provide new lenses and context to our journalism.
And when we organize in-person events and allies show up to ask hard questions about effective support and communication — that is helping to create a more inclusive network and culture outside of JOCs.”
So much has happened in the years JOC has existed. The global pandemic forced many of us to rethink what it means to do this work — and if we even have the mental, emotional and physical bandwidth to keep it up. We were witness to yet another long-overdue national conversation around police brutality and racism in America. Several award-winning newsrooms shut down amid historic unionizing and workers’ rights campaigns nationwide. News of layoffs at various media organizations continues to feel daily. And many of us are still waiting for change in our newsrooms and/or are struggling to create new systems within an industry entirely too attached to its isms: racism, sexism, classism, ableism, ageism, etc…
As a community, we have acknowledged that it’s not enough to just hire people of color. Newsrooms and media organizations also need to focus on retention, and creating systems and organizational infrastructures that support journalists from a variety of backgrounds so that they can develop, thrive, rise into mentorship and break into leadership roles where they can encourage the cycle — all in service of better journalism.
Having a wider range of perspectives and life experiences in our newsrooms can — and does! — lead to richer reporting. Equity and inclusion are the next frontiers in ensuring we serve our audiences well. For allies, that can mean relinquishing power, or giving resources, time and editorial space to stories and ideas from journalists of color.
And we’re up for it, right?? JOC is the best of what we do as journalists: community engagement, relationship building, communication and organization.
We’ve been so lucky to provide a small space on the internet to meet and explore so much together. We are the sum of our parts and JOC would not exist or be what it is today without our amazing fellow admins: Lo Bénichou, Erik Reyna, Lam Thuy Vo, and Sisi Wei (special shoutout to Tauhid Chappell who retired as admin when taking his most recent job); and the brilliant members (you!!) who decided to join our community — people who chose to participate in community every damn day.
Now it’s time to look for our next era of admins. So, may the succession planning begin!
In the coming days we’ll share a form to hear from people who may be interested in becoming an admin. And in the coming weeks, we’d like to send a community survey around to hear directly from all our members about how this space can continue to serve and support you. We have a whole ass year to plan for a transition that will prioritize maintaining support for the community, creating support for new admins, and building for smooth transfers of responsibilities.
We’ll be looking to April 27, 2025 not just as our 10th anniversary but when the six of us will retire from our admin duties. Know that this entire journey has been an absolute honor.
Let’s keep working together on creating a world where this Slack doesn’t need to exist. ❤️
Always & Forever,
Julia B. Chan and Aaron C. Williams
Founders of the Journalists of Color Slack
