Over the past year, News Voices: Colorado — a collaboration of Free Press, Colorado Media Project and the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) — facilitated a series of conversations with Black Coloradans focused on how local news organizations can better listen to, inform, and work with the state's Black communities.
In September 2021, representatives from the Black Voices working group discussed five key recommendations that emerged from these conversations — which are also captured in a new report: “The Time is Right Now: A Call to Action for Anti-Racist and Just Local News.”
Panelists discussed how and why the Black Voices working group came to its recommendations, the detailed steps that newsrooms and communities can take to put them into immediate action, and the ways that philanthropy and the public can support this work.
Event participants also had the opportunity to join breakout groups to provide input and explore how Colorado can follow the lead of Black communities to transform local newsrooms and the civic information ecosystem. Interested in joining the Black Voices working group? Sign up here.
Conversationalists:
Diamond Hardiman, manager for News Voices: Colorado: Hardiman (she, her, hers) manages the News Voices: Colorado project in collaboration with community members to envision a transformative media. She has worked as a tenants’ rights advocate, bail abolitionist, as well as an advocate for people on death row.
Ammiee Brown, (formerly) AmeriCorps Vista, Open Media Foundation: Brown (she, her, hers) is passionate about helping others reach their full potential. She graduated from Centenary College of Louisiana in 2016 with a major in mass communication: film/TV/video and a minor in psychology. Brown has a passion for community service and has served on various committees and boards. Her hobbies include theater, karaoke, photography and impromptu solo-dance parties in her living room.
Tiya Trent, Project VOYCE program facilitator: Trent (she, her, hers) is a community activist, organizer, mentor and mother to two young men. She has a master’s degree in education and undergraduate degrees from the University of Colorado, Boulder in theater and ethnic studies as well as women and gender studies. In addition to working with young folks in the community, Trent has served on the organizing committee for the March for Black Women since its inception three years ago.
Gloria Neal, director of public affairs for the mayor of Denver: Neal (she, her, hers) is a former TV-news anchor and reporter, a columnist, a radio reporter on NewsRadio 850 KOA, talk-show host, and the host of UC Health’s The EVRE Woman’s Podcast. She has been the director of public affairs for the office of Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock since December 2018.
The Black Voices: Colorado working group is part of a larger project also involving members of Latinx communities in Colorado. COLab in partnership with CMP will convene groups with members of Asian, American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Indigenous communities in 2022.