UNITY Opens Public Vote for Best Business Concept

USA - English

• Latin America - español

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --  UNITY Journalists of Color, Inc.'s New U: News Entrepreneurs Working through UNITY (New U) project announced today that its participants had reached the voting stage of the competitive program.  Pending an online vote by their peers from all four UNITY alliance associations (AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ and NAJA), four participants will each receive $5,000 in seed money for their business.

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"Entrepreneurial journalism is the present and future, and it's very exciting to see journalists of color learning the tools of the business side to achieve professional independence," said Barbara Ciara, UNITY President.

New U is a Ford Foundation-funded program for journalists of color who want to become entrepreneurs. In summer 2010, sixteen participants attended two-day "boot camps" to learn business skills and how to pitch their ideas to a group of mentors and guest financial experts. Pitches were video recorded, and starting today, UNITY asked members to vote (http://unityjournalists.org/NewU) for the best business concept.   Voting will be allowed for two weeks. UNITY alliance partner membership while encouraged, is not required to vote.

"We felt like crowd-sourcing was the fairest way to choose a winner," said Alli Joseph, program co-director. "Rather than judging the participants ourselves, we decided that their industry peers would ably choose the greatest idea."

The New U project is intended to increase the number of innovative thinkers and product developers who are of color, providing them with a forum in which to develop and express innovative ideas. "This is a 'solutions-based' project," said Doug Mitchell, program co-director.  "There is much to know and there are many people we've discovered who are eager to help from all corners to close the gap between who gets funded and who does not."

About UNITY: Journalists of Color

UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation's diversity. UNITY is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association representing more than 8,000 journalists of color. In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY develops programs and advocacy initiatives that promote its mission. For more information on UNITY, visit www.unityjournalists.org, email [email protected] or call (703) 854-3585.

SOURCE UNITY: Journalists of Color

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