PHOENIX — November 28, 2022 — The Diversity Pledge Institute at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (DPI) is participating in its first #GivingTuesday fundraising campaign. The organization is hoping to raise $5,000 in order to expand its leadership development programs aimed at increasing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in newsrooms across the nation.
“We started DPI because a diverse newsroom makes for a stronger newsroom and the quality of journalism needed to preserve our democracy,” Founder Larry Graham said. “With funds we hope to raise during GivingTuesday we’ll be able to increase the size of our program and provide more journalists with the training they need to thrive in today’s newsrooms.”
DPI takes a two-fold approach to DEIA — supporting newsrooms as they work to create more diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible practices in support of employee retention while simultaneously providing training to journalists from diverse backgrounds via mentorship and its Learning Circles program.
“The Learning Circles are a professional development and leadership training program for journalists that centers DEIA and builds peer-mentorship communities,” said Dr. Rebecca Lisi, DPI Program Manager. “By establishing ‘communities of discourse’ around the state of DEIA in the newsroom, program participants play an important role in validating one another’s individual experiences and establishing a language with which they can advocate for change.”
Taken together, DPI is able to have a real impact in guiding newsrooms as they develop meaningful ways that can lead to increased audience engagement and new revenue opportunities.
Over the past year, DPI has expanded its Learning Circle program, launched its groundbreaking Newsroom Diversity Survey pilot, and developed meaningful partnerships with The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, Editor & Publisher, News Revenue Hub and the Journalism Education Association. DPI also found its home at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“For the last couple of years, it’s felt like I possessed this clear vision of a jigsaw puzzle that nobody’s solved and couldn’t be explained,” Graham said. “To finally see a part of that dream transformed into a reality in just 13 months blows my mind. I still can’t believe how far we’ve come and the number of people we’ve helped but we still have a long way to go.”
One of the ways DPI is manifesting this vision is by reimagining what diversity surveys in newsrooms should look like—moving away from a demographic audit toward a tool that provides newsrooms with a baseline with which to measure the true impact of their DEIA efforts.
You can get a jump on DPI’s #GivingTuesday campaign by making a tax deductible donation today!
About The Diversity Pledge Institute — The Diversity Pledge Institute at the Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) dedicated to research, analysis and education related to diversity in journalism. Our goal is to solve the diversity pipeline problem; improve retention rates associated with diversity, equity and inclusion; and support journalists’ career growth. We prioritize peer-to-peer training and career learning for journalists while offering ongoing organizational support for diversity and inclusion efforts in media.
