The Journalism Mentorship Collaborative was a program ONA ran in 2018 and is now closed. The original program involved two components.
Journalism Mentorship Collaborative
We organized an open, global network of newsrooms who are deeply committed to assisting employees along their journalism and media career path through inclusive mentoring and sponsorship programs. Those accepted into the program received:
- Access to a community of independent newsrooms and journalism schools looking to enhance inclusive mentoring opportunities.
- Ability to participate in a series of live, monthly webinars, running February through July 2018, focused on improving newsroom mentorship programs. Topics included:
- What is mentoring? What is sponsoring?
- Human Resources
- Career building strategies
- Creating professional relationships
- Creating and maintaining a professional presence online
- Having hard conversations; talking across difference
- Resources for best practices in journalism mentorship, developed by a team of six dedicated experts exclusively for this program.
- The opportunity to apply for funding for your mentorship program, which included a fellowship with ONA, from a pool of $125,000.
- Showing the world that your organization is making a serious investment in developing diverse talent and working to solve the industry-wide challenge of a lack of diversity in newsrooms.
Applications to join the collaborative closed Feb. 2, 2018.
Fellowship and funding opportunity
Newsrooms that joined the broader Collaborative had the opportunity apply for a fellowship and up to $5,000 in funding for innovative ideas in their mentorship programs, drawn from a pool of $125,000. ONA selected a cohort group of 15-25 professionals that are recognized mentorship leaders inside their organizations. Selected participants received:
- Two days of detailed training and discussion on best practices for improving mentoring in newsrooms. The training was held in St. Louis, Missouri.
- Access to an expert coach in your region to help develop and achieve goals for your mentoring program through Sept. 30, 2018.
- An online community for bouncing ideas off of other Fellows in the program.
- Award funds of up to $5,000 for your organization to support your mentorship program, as well as compensation for your time away, drawn from a total pool of $125,000.
- A chance to showcase your work: up to two fellows will be selected to speak at ONA18, alongside some of the program coaches, to share best practices learned along the way with the ONA community.
Applications closed on Feb. 2, 2018.
Eligibility for the fellowship and funding opportunity:
- Applicants may request up to $5,000 in funding. The funding must be paid to an organization, rather than an individual.
- If your idea is expected to cost more than $5,000, you may still apply, but there will be a field in the application asking how you plan to secure the remaining funding.
- Fellowship training will be held Monday, March 19 and Tuesday, March 20 in St. Louis, Missouri. ONA will cover RT coach airfare, 2-3 nights’ hotel stay, as needed. Some meals will be provided during the training. Applicants will be responsible for additional meals, transit to and from airports and other expenses. Applicants will be expected to arrive one day early (on Sunday, March 18) and participate in both days of training.
- This fellowship and funding opportunity is available to North American applicants only. International members may still join the larger Collaborative and participate in the online forum and webinars.
Applications closed in 2018.