The Reynolds School of Journalism, in conjunction with the Online News Association (ONA), announced today that it is the recipient of one of 11 grants awarded nationwide through the Online News Association Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education. The Reynolds School will use the $35,000 grant to establish a student-run Spanish language reporting team through the Nevada Media Alliance to develop bilingual multimedia news coverage ahead of the 2016 presidential election, serving the Latino community of northern Nevada.

A goal of the project is to transcend mere translation of stories produced in English, emphasizing stories and angles of particular impact to the Latino community. This is the first time the Reynolds School has received an ONA grant.

“Washoe County is 23.3 percent Latino, yet there is very limited Spanish language news available for this segment of the northern Nevada community,” Nevada Media Alliance Coordinator Vanessa Vancour said. “We plan to test a project to engage Latino adults through events journalism, specifically a series of four monthly ‘pop-up newsroom’ (Noticiero Mòvil) events to be held at locations in the Hispanic community. These events will feature bilingual student journalists discussing their reporting of local and state government and political stories affecting Latinos, live interviews with newsmakers of interest to the Latino community, and structured citizen conversations on current affairs.”

The grant allows Reynolds School students to diversify their skills, work on bilingual multimedia stories and experiment with digital and social media early in their careers. It also allows students to enhance their cultural literacy.

The bilingual reporting team will work in partnership with Reno Gazette Journal and KNPB journalists. Additionally, the team will consult with the University of Nevada, Reno’s Latino Research Center to determine best practices for engaging with the community and assessing community concerns.

“These ONA Challenge Fund grants are highly competitive,” Reynolds School Dean Al Stavitsky said. “So we’re honored that our bilingual news partnership has been recognized as an innovative approach to engaging our region’s Latino community.” 

The grant is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Democracy Fund and the Rita Allen Foundation.

The goal of the Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education is to hack the journalism curriculum using customized versions of the teaching hospital model. The fund supports universities to partner with news organizations, and explore new ways of providing information to their local communities.