Center for Cooperative Media relaunches membership support program for NJ journalists
Last year, the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University began supporting New Jersey journalists in the form of paid membership dues to professional organizations including the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) and NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, among others.
This followed several years where the Center paid for travel for New Jersey journalists attending conferences or events put on by those organizations. When the pandemic caused conferences to shift to virtual instead of in-person gatherings, the Center pivoted to funding membership dues amidst the pandemic.
We were thrilled last year when 300 New Jersey journalists took us up on our offer and renewed their memberships for a year!
Thanks to funding from Democracy Fund and additional money we pooled together from other gifts made to the Center, we were able to pay for these memberships to organizations including NAHJ, NAJA, NLGJA and the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists. That far surpassed the number of people we helped on a yearly basis previously with our conference travel program.
Specifically, the program helped PABJ members folks renew their dues, and also attracted 50 new members (which DOUBLED its previous number of New Jersey members!). For NAHJ, its active New Jersey membership jumped from 77 to 226 — nearly tripling its number of active members in the state. The program also paid for 19 memberships for New Jersey NLGJA members and three NAJA members.
Based on the success of this initiative, we are once again offering support for membership dues.
One of the Center’s strategic priorities is to actively and publicly support efforts to diversify New Jersey’s media ecosystem and make it more equitable. We believe that supporting journalists of color in all ways that we can is a key part of that work.
Our intention is that this investment helps our journalism colleagues keep accessing the fantastic networking and programming put on by these organizations, and clearly signals our support for their work.
If you’re a NJ journalist who would like to request a scholarship to pay for your dues in one of the organizations listed above, please fill out this form. We will be paying for dues on a first-come, first-serve basis until we spend the $5K we have set aside for the program. The Center’s intent is to pay the organizations directly once we know who is requesting membership assistance.
And if you are a funder, please consider making a gift to help continue this program!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: I already paid dues for this year. Will you reimburse me?
A: Yes, reach out to us. Fill out the form and note that in the last field. You may qualify for reimbursed dues even if you’ve already paid for your membership for 2022.
Q: My dues don’t expire until later in the year, can I apply now to get assistance?
A: Yes, please apply!
Q: The organization that I’m a member of is not listed here, can I still apply for membership reimbursement?
A: If it’s not listed here, please complete the application form and tell us the name of your member organization. You may qualify for membership assistance.
Have more questions? Let me know. Email me at etiennec@montclair.edu.
Cassandra Etienne is the assistant director for membership and programming at the Center for Cooperative Media. Contact her at etiennec@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a primarily grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
