UPDATE: TAMPA BAY PULITZER PROJECT ADDED TO EQUITY MATTERS PROGRAM ON JUNE 3

LATEST UPDATE: Cara Fitzpatrick, a member of the Tampa Bay Times team that received a Pulitzer Prize for an investigation into the Pinellas County School Board’s culpability in turning some county schools into “Failure Factories,” will join the list of presenters for the June 3 Equity Matters symposium. Fitzpatrick and colleagues Michael LaForgia and Lisa Gartner received the Pulitzer Prize for local news reporting.

Equity Matters Treatment blockCovering the Troubling Divide in the Education of America’s Children

Renaissance Journalism is pleased to announce a one-day symposium on educational equity for journalists. Equity Matters will bring together the nation’s top experts and education journalists in examining the root causes and impact of our nation’s ever-widening “opportunity gap.” This disparity in access to educational resources and opportunities has resulted in an unequal education system, shortchanging the futures of millions of low-income, minority and immigrant children.

This in-depth symposium will offer journalists with fresh insights, new sources, and the latest research and data to help foster ways to write about the issue with greater depth, impact and clarity. Reporters in the Equity Reporting Project, a groundbreaking fellowship program sponsored by Renaissance Journalism, will lead discussions on story development strategies. A partial list of guest presenters includes:

  • Nikole Hannah-Jones, Staff Writer, The New York Times Magazine
  • Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Sean Reardon, Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education, Stanford University
  • Kristina Rizga, Education Reporter, Mother Jones
  • Richard Rothstein, Research Associate, Economic Policy Institute
  • Keith M. Woods, Vice President for News & Operations, National Public Radio
  • Cara Fitzpatrick, Education Reporter, Tampa Bay Times

The symposium is being offered free of charge to journalists, but pre-registration is required. Request an invitation at equitymattersjournalism.eventbrite.com and see our website at renjournalism.org.

The program, which will conclude with a networking reception, will be held at the New York headquarters of The Ford Foundation, which supported the Equity Reporting Project.

Renaissance Journalism sponsors national initiatives that support journalists and their news organizations to produce ambitious, in-depth and compelling stories that reveal and illuminate social injustice and inequity. Each initiative inspires journalists to expand—and to even rethink—their reporting and storytelling practices and how they frame complex issues. Through intensive training conferences, coaching and regenerative storytelling retreats, journalists are encouraged to go beyond the formulaic and the status quo when tackling difficult social problems, such as poverty, equity and racism. We engage a diverse range of journalists—from youth storytellers to veteran journalists, from major news outlets to ethnic media to grassroots nonprofits.

Renaissance Journalism was founded in 2009 by Jon Funabiki, a professor of journalism at San Francisco State University. He serves as the center’s executive director. Renaissance Journalism operates in partnership with San Francisco State University and ZeroDivide, a nonprofit organization that integrates the tools of technology into community transformation strategies.

Details at a Glance

EQUITY MATTERS

Friday, June 3, 2016

8am-5:30pm, networking reception to follow

Ford Foundation, 320 East 43rd St., New York City

To pre-register, click on equitymattersjournalism.eventbrite.com.