Meet Pittsburgh’s three community journalists
The best local journalism is centered around the needs of communities. Local journalism, though, doesn’t always work that way. That’s why the Pittsburgh Journalism Project was formed. We’re hoping that the quality of local journalism can be improved by having experienced journalists partner with community members to produce more relevant and representative stories.
Inspired by City Bureau, a media nonprofit that trains residents on Chicago’s south and west sides how to be journalists, the PJP set out to see if a similar model might work in Atlanta. Pittsburgh, a historic black neighborhood on the city’s south side, was a perfect place to start. The community had no journalist of its own. And journalists from outside Pittsburgh often focused on the community’s deficits — mortgage fraud, crime, displacement — instead of painting a fuller picture of life there.
Ask Pittsburgh residents what journalists get wrong about their neighborhood, and they’ll be honest with you. The words of one resident, in particular, have stuck with me: “I’ve never read a positive story about Pittsburgh.”
How do we change that? One idea: Help communities like Pittsburgh tell their own stories.
First, I asked 10 Pittsburgh residents to weigh in on what stories they’d like to see covered in their community. Their top choice: A story that looks at how Pittsburgh children are faring in school four years after the APS cheating trial ended.
From there, the PJP asked Pittsburgh residents who were writers, researchers, photographers, or videographers to apply for a six-week journalism course. Of those who applied, three were chosen. Those three community journalists are getting paid to learn how to report and write a news feature. Once finished, they’ll present the work to their fellow Pittsburgh residents, and hopefully publish the story. My hope is that, once this training ends, these community journalists will have the tools to keep telling stories about Pittsburgh. (And if this pilot is successful, the PJP will potentially grow to help train residents in other communities.)
With that, I’d like to introduce the first class of community journalists. If you live or work in Pittsburgh, and would like to get in touch with us, please email us at pittsburghjournalismproject@gmail.com. -Max Blau, founder of the Pittsburgh Journalism Project.
Braddye Smith, a native of Pittsburgh, is a supervisor with DeKalb County government, managing cases for an accountability and diversion court. Since her teenage years, she has enjoyed writing poetry. In her professional life, she writes training manuals for the positions in her office, pulling from her deep knowledge of criminal justice. She hopes to challenge herself by learning about the field of journalism and to gain professional writing skills. By becoming a community journalist, she wants to be a positive voice for the Pittsburgh community, which will allow readers to obtain complete, accurate and unbiased news from an invested resident. Her daughter graduated from Carver Early College in 2013.
Email: braddyesmith@comcast.net
Chandra Harper-Gallashaw, who lived in Pittsburgh for over a decade, spends her days working as a community leader and a researcher at Georgia State University. She believes the journalism training will help her in the process of writing a memoir. By becoming a community journalist, she hopes to find a way for people in Pittsburgh, where her daughter now lives, to shed light on the positive parts of the community.
Email: gashaw4686@gmail.com
William “Mr. Bill” King, who has lived in Pittsburgh for about 30 years, has been involved with almost every neighborhood organization from the Civic League to the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Association. He wrote for a couple of college newspapers and the Pittsburgh Master Plan newsletter. He is currently working on a book about his life and more importantly about Jesus, what William thinks is going on in the world today, and what we might do about it. He hopes this experience will help tell the Pittsburgh story while honing his writing skills.
Email: kingwilliam777@yahoo.com
