CFWIJ receives funding support from The Craig Newmark Philanthropies
UNITED STATES, New York, December 1 — The Coalition For Women In Journalism (CFWIJ) is deeply grateful to The Craig Newmark Philanthropies for a seed funding that will help the CFWIJ sustain our operations that we have carried out in a pro bono capacity in the last one year. The funding will help us re-energize our support activities for women journalists.
In 2019, we will continue supporting women journalists through our mentorship program and hope to launch our advocacy work which we find necessary in the given environment.
When we began our work in 2017 as a support organization for women journalists, our support work has had a focus on one-on-one mentorship. Our mentorship program geared towards helping mid-career women journalists was developed to help our fellows address their needs. These mentorships have accommodated different aspects of a journalists career ranging from professional needs to personal stresses that often interrupt the rhythm of a journalists work.
Within the first year of our mentorship operations we started receiving reports of severe and often debilitating harassments, and professional limitations that women journalists faced whether they worked for local press or foreign press. Over time we realized that to be able to do our mentorship work there was an urgent need to address safety issues that women journalists faced as well. In 2018, we began carefully documenting threats and attacks from within our network. In 2019, we will launch the advocacy work formally so our work that tracks these different types of challenges that women journalists face can be accessible to the industry and the public.
Before now, our efforts have been restricted by a lack of funds. The money that we have received from The Craig Newmark Philanthropies will enable us to do the organized work we aim to do on press freedom and mentorship.
With Craig Newmark’s kind contribution, our vision for 2019 is one of hope and growth. Here’s to welcoming a world of possibilities. And thank you very much to Craig Newmark for his support to the industry.
