Applications open: Invest in earning trust with communities of color

What does it look like for newsrooms to make a commitment to reaching out to people of color in their communities? To listening and understanding them? And, ultimately, to providing coverage of them that is more nuanced, more respectful and more accurate?

We’re thrilled to be bringing back a Trust 101 class dedicated to those questions. And, after having worked alongside 15 newsrooms as they tackled the topic in the fall, we have fresh insights and case studies to share.

Trust 101: Earning Trust With Communities of Color will next be offered March 21-April 29, 2022. The priority application deadline is Feb. 28. Apply here.

Leading the class alongside the Trusting News team will once again be Letrell Deshan Crittenden of the American Press Institute (which co-hosts Trusting News, along with the Reynolds Journalism Institute). Letrell has deep research and practical experience on this topic, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to learn and teach alongside him a second time.

What the class covers

Throughout the class we’ll talk about and wrestle with issues like these:

• identifying past and present barriers to trust with communities of color
• assessing source diversity and community connections
• identifying and executing effective outreach strategies
• cultivating humility and responsiveness in your newsroom culture
• tying relationship-building to your core mission and values

Participants will assess and outline the challenges specific to their newsrooms. They’ll collaborate on goals and plans while receiving individual coaching from our team. They’ll finish the six weeks with next steps outlined to implement their ideas, all with a support network of instructors and other cohort newsrooms ready to share the journey.

Want a peek at what the class empowers newsrooms to do? Here are a few of the plans the last cohort left the class excited about.

Details and logistics

• Each participant should be prepared to spend 3–4 hours per week. That time is mostly flexible but does include attendance at one live class session each Friday from 1 pm to 2 pm ET.
• It is open to local journalists in U.S. newsrooms who are willing to make a commitment to better relationships with and service to communities of color. (Note: It is not structured for freelancers.)
• This class is 100% remote and is facilitated through live Zoom classes, video recordings, a Slack workspace and assignments.
• It is offered free to journalists.
• The course requires two participants from each newsroom to apply together and plan to both participate fully. This structure enables the partners to support each other’s plans and ability to implement them. We strongly recommend the team include someone in a leadership position, though that is not required. By leadership position, we mean someone with decision-making authority — over the newsroom overall, or over reporting areas or teams.
• We plan to accept up to 15 newsrooms. As we evaluate applications, we’re looking for journalists who have thoughtful observations and seem ready to invest in making changes.

The priority application deadline is Feb. 28. Apply here.

What the previous class said about the experience

The journalists who went through the inaugural session of this class in Fall 2021 gave it high marks. When asked on a survey how confident they were that the plans they created represented work that would be useful to their newsroom, the answers averaged 4.3 out of 5. And when asked how likely they would be to recommend this program or a similar one to a friend or colleague? 4.8 out of 5.

Here are some thoughts from a few participants whose permission we sought to share their comments publicly:

“I had ideas coming into the class of what the lessons and discussions would be like. Some of that came true, but it also offered more avenues to build trust that I didn’t expect. I like that it challenged me to think about the many different ways we may be building (or breaking) trust.”
— Gene Sonn, collaborations editor Resolve Philly/Broke in Philly

The instructors “bring a tremendous wealth of knowledge to this kind of training and are great guides on our trail to achieving a much better understanding of the challenges, roadblocks and opportunities in front of us. I have already employed what I now know, and examples of my classmates trying similar things as a way to engage my colleagues to talk about some difficult topics. This training was very empowering and I know I’ll rely on it in the work ahead.”
— Annie Shreffler, GBH News

“This class was just the structure my newsroom needed to put aside time and energy to work on building trust with communities of color. Lots of newsrooms have lofty goals, but we only do the work we make time for, and plenty of things never make the list. Here, we had dedicated instructors specialized in trust-building, a well-planned curriculum focused on culture change, thoughtful classmates and assignments that pushed us to make concrete plans. I highly recommend it.”
— Natalie Yahr, Local economy reporter for the Capital Times

Still have questions? Email joy@TrustingNews.org.

Looking for other training on trust?

If this particular focus isn’t right for you, fill out this form to be alerted when we’re next taking applications for a Trust 101 class.

And in the meantime, we have a self-paced class that is a partnership with Poynter’s NewsU: How Any Journalist Can Earn Trust. Sign up, then pick lessons that are most relevant for your work, on your own time. Not in the US? There’s also an international version!

Subscribe to our newsletter

The best way to get ideas for actively earning trust and demonstrating credibility is to subscribe to our weekly newsletter Trust Tips. We’ll hit your inbox each Tuesday with a quick, actionable strategy. And we announce training sessions there as well.

At Trusting News, we learn how people decide what news to trust and turn that knowledge into actionable strategies for journalists. We train and empower journalists to take responsibility for demonstrating credibility and actively earning trust through transparency and engagement. We’re co-hosted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute. Subscribe to our Trust Tips newsletter. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Read more about our work at TrustingNews.org.