Scholars, fellows, graduates have 'family' reunion

By Cynthia Coleman Franklin
Diversity Institute Fellow

08.06.04

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A sense of family was the common thread that ran through the voices of speakers Thursday night at a gathering for current and past participants in Freedom Forum diversity programs.

The reception and dinner, “A Celebration of Partners in Diversity,” included Chips Quinn Scholars, Diversity Institute Fellows, ASNE/APME Fellows and American Indian Journalism Institute graduates, as well as editors and publishers who hire fellows and scholars to diversify their newsrooms.

“This is a family,” John Quinn, founder of the Chips Quinn Scholars Program, said. That program places Scholars in paid newspaper newsroom internships. Beginning with six scholars in 1991, there are now more than 875 young people of color who have participated in the program, each having received $1,500 in scholarships and stipends from the Freedom Forum.

Kareem Copeland, an ASNE/APME Fellow, encouraged new journalists using the keyword, “Confidence.”

“Having a supportive newsroom gives us confidence,” said Copeland, a sports reporter for The Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald.

Innately, families form support systems for one another. It is evident that journalists who have participated in the diversity partnership programs are recipients of a unique support system, similar to a big family, for young journalists of color. It consists of experienced professionals who teach and mentor new journalists of color and have made a commitment to help diversify newsrooms. Many were Chips Quinn Scholars themselves.

 “Confidence helps us do what we do,” Copeland said. “Confidence helps us to do the stories. Confidence helps us handle uncomfortable situations.”

On behalf of other fellows and Scholars representing the diversity family, Copeland said, “I hope we make you guys proud of us.”

A daughter of diversity, Kristen Go wrote in her journal while an intern, “I feel like my spirit is broken.” She picked up the phone and called her mentor. Go said her mentor listened for two hours — and consoled her — as his dinner turned cold.

Now years later, Go is a mentor to others. “Mentoring means I helped someone,” she said. Go, a Chips Quinn Scholar, is now a reporter for The Arizona Republic in Phoenix.

Ray Chavez drew the room of young minority journalists closer together as he shared a moment of inspiration. Chavez is chairman of the department of contemporary media and journalism at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion and dean of the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute.

Chavez said he and a colleague, while eating, used a napkin for their tablet. They wrote plans on how to increase the number of Native American journalists. He compared that plan on the napkin to a seed of corn.

 “Corn grows 8- to 10-feet stalks,” Chavez said. “I’d like to think that seed we planted four years ago has grown into tall fields, rows and rows of corn.”

Robbie Morganfield, instructor/training editor at the Freedom Forum’s Diversity Institute in Nashville, Tenn., gave the family benediction.

“You are not alone,” he said. “We are not alone. We have each other.”

Morganfield told the audience that they don’t have to look or travel far to find what they need. “I’m convinced that everyone in here needs to take a second look. Everything we need is at hand.”

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