Over 100 interns from various news organizations across the country gathered in New York City for the Emma Bowen Foundation Conference on July 8-10. The conference, which aims to cultivate a diverse talent pipeline to propel innovation and growth in the nonprofit sector, is part of the Institute for Nonprofit News’ (INN) strategic initiative.
Throughout the summer, fellows are placed with various media organizations, including nonprofit news sites like BenitoLink, for eight-week internships focused on news media, editorial, business, and technology.
BenitoLink got its second Emma Bowen intern this summer: Francisco Romero.
“Being an Emma Bowen Fellow has given me the opportunity to meet many wonderful people and make lasting connections,” Romero said.
At the conference, fellows heard industry leaders discuss the public’s declining confidence in the media and how to educate the public on today’s media landscape. Companies like Apple and Comcast offered tech demos, featuring products that make media more accessible to their users.
Romero grew up in Hollister and is now a software engineering major at San Jose State.
“Throughout my internship I have been able to work on a team that has allowed me to explore different aspects of web development,” he said. “I got firsthand experience on what it’s like to work on developing a news site that I don’t think I would have gotten otherwise. The feedback I have gotten for my work is invaluable and is something I will carry with me in future endeavors.”
“Francisco has been a huge asset to the BenitoLink team,” said Executive Director Leslie David. “We just migrated our site from Drupal to WordPress and he has helped get the quirks out. He is excellent and very easy to work with.”
BenitoLink is partially funded through INN’s NewsMatch program. The Emma Bowen Foundation sponsored a large portion of Romero’s internship. Emma Bowen Foundation and INN will jointly seek funding to continue and potentially expand the program in 2020. The Monterey Peninsula Foundation is also assisting BenitoLink with an expanded internship program, focused on amplifying the LatinX community voice and increasing coverage through local youth, especially in the areas of news writing and reporting.
About INN
The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a growing national network of more than 200 nonprofit news organizations dedicated to providing investigative and public service reporting. INN was founded in 2009 to foster a new collective of newsrooms serving the public interest. Today it functions as an innovation network, helping members develop new ways to support journalism and engage communities, providing business, technology and leadership support and a framework for collaboration. INN’s work helps newsrooms bring investigative and civic news to more people, hold the powerful accountable and strengthen democracy.
About the Emma Bowen Foundation
The Emma Bowen Foundation was founded in 1989 to diversify the media industry by giving talented students the opportunity to intern at some of the nation’s leading media companies. The foundation has provided internships for more than 1,000 students of color.