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$300,000 Grant will be Used to Train High School Students to Report on Health-Related Issues in Baltimore and Washington, DC
Morgan State University and Howard University are partnering to help high school students bring the power of multimedia journalism to bear on persistent health disparity issues in underserved communities in Baltimore and Washington, DC. The project is funded by a $300,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The Urban Health Media Project is the brainchild of Reed V. Tuckson, M.D., a member of the Board of Trustees at Howard University, and Jayne O’Donnell, the healthcare policy reporter at USA Today who will serve as program director. The principal investigator on the grant is fellow health journalist Yanick Rice Lamb, chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard. Her counterpart at Morgan State is Jacqueline Jones, chair of the Department of Multimedia Journalism in the School of Global Journalism and Communication.
“As I witness the formulation of policies intended to create healthy and safe communities, I have become aware of the startling absence of informed voices of our young people,” Dr. Tuckson said. “As the former Commissioner of Public Health for the District of Columbia, and former president of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Central Los Angeles, I understand the importance of listening to and learning from all stakeholders who are required to realize optimal health strategies.”
High school students are being invited to apply for the year-long program, which includes three 10-week sessions on Saturdays beginning in February 2017 at Morgan State University in Baltimore or Howard University in Washington, D.C. Students will learn how to write news stories, capture audio, shoot and edit video, take photos and incorporate social media. They will develop an understanding of the interrelated social issues — including housing, education and food insecurity — that may contribute to disadvantaged communities.
The students will work under the guidance of professional journalists, faculty members and college interns. Their multimedia work will be featured on a new website, in a book (authored by O’Donnell) and occasionally on USAToday.com. Upon its completion, the goal will be to replicate the program in other key cities, such as New Orleans and Detroit.
Prior to the end of the December deadline, interested high school students can apply online to participate at http://bit.ly/urban-health-media.
About W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to help break the cycle of poverty by removing barriers based on race or income that hold back children, so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.
The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the United States are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. To learn more, follow WKKF on Twitter at @wk_kellogg_fdn.
About Morgan
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified Doctoral Research Institution offering more than 70 academic programs leading to bachelor’s degrees as well as programs at the master’s and doctoral levels. As Maryland’s premier public urban research university, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. More information about the university is available at www.morgan.edu.
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Clinton R. Coleman or Larry Jones
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