Happy birthday to us! The Center for Cooperative Media plans 10th anniversary celebrations for 2022
Help us celebrate a decade of cooperative media, and prepare for the next one
How time flies! The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University will celebrate its 10th birthday this year. (In July, to be exact).
The Center was launched to help grow and strengthen the news industry in New Jersey using a unique, collaborative approach. The first initiative of the Center was the NJ News Commons, which was formed to help local news outlets collaborate to cover big stories and important issues, among other things.
Today the NJ News Commons is still at the heart of the Center’s work, but we’ve grown oh-so-much since then. The Center’s mission now is to grow and strengthen local journalism and support an informed society in New Jersey and beyond. Our New Jersey-focused work runs through the NJ News Commons, our cooperative membership network of news organizations and journalists around the state. We provide training, coaching, professional development, communication, events, run collaborative reporting projects and more.
Nationally, the Center studies and advocates for the practice of collaborative journalism, which we define as multiple organizations working together in any journalistic pursuit.
Over the last 10 years we’ve hosted hundreds of trainings and nine national conferences, coached dozens of news entrepreneurs and brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars to the New Jersey news ecosystem.
You can read more about how we’ve evolved over the years by visiting our history page, which chronicles every important milestone in the Center’s decade-old journey.
To celebrate, we’ve got big plans for 2022! Among them:
NJ News Commons reimagined and relaunched
Late last year, we announced a reimagining of the NJ News Commons to position it for the future. The team at the Center surveyed current members and reflected deeply about what we envision the News Commons could do in service of New Jersey residents, and then built a new structure accordingly.
We believe that now is the time to open up the NJ News Commons to invite a broader, more inclusive membership. Access to quality, accurate information not only directly affects civic health and community resilience, it can save lives.
That’s why we re-centered the News Commons around an individual membership structure. Rather than focus on only serving news institutions themselves, we are transitioning to a network that is based on the individual. And, for the first time, anyone with an interest in the future of news and information in our state can join the NJ News Commons!
We offer two pathways to join us: You can apply to become a media member or an individual stakeholder. Membership is still free. Click here to learn more and join our growing network!
A look back, and a look forward
Every month for the next 10 months, we’ll share a piece of history from our work over the last 10 years in our biweekly Newsroom Digest newsletter. Additionally, we’ve asked 10 news and information leaders across the state to look ahead to the next decade and share their predictions for what will happen to media in New Jersey. We’ll publish their essays once a month. You can read the first one, from Jelani Gibson, here.
Celebratory events and future planning
We’re hoping to host at least one in-person gathering to celebrate the work of the Center and thank our funders, supporters, partners and friends. This will also be an opportunity to recognize the dozens of people who have made a positive impact on media in New Jersey and in the collaborative journalism realm.
We also intend to find space to look ahead with the community we’ve built to discuss to what we could do in the next 10 years that would have an impact.
Artwork commissioned
We commissioned artwork from New Jersey-based artist and illustrator Michael Hoeweler to help us visualize the news and information ecosystem in our state in a way that helps memorialize, celebrate and reflect upon what we have here and what we still need.
Fundraising campaign launched
To help us prepare for all of this and more, for the first time, the Center is launching a public fundraising campaign. Our goal is to raise at least $10,000 to support our 10-year anniversary plans!
We especially hope to reach major donors who feel a connection to our work or who understand the importance of a free press in democracy. Your gift will go directly toward supporting the Center’s work in New Jersey and across the U.S.
We’d be remiss here if we didn’t say thank you to our core operational funders, whose contributions have sustained the Center over the last decade. Without the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund and Abrams Foundation, we wouldn’t be here.
THANK YOU.
If you’ve got other ideas for our birthday, let us know! Email us at info@centerforcooperativemedia.org.
Stefanie Murray is the director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Contact her at murrayst@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.
