About Builders + Backers
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will provide grant funding directly to support freelance reporters and producers at Black-owned print, broadcast, and digital outlets through the “Black Press Grant Program.”
The grants aim to help ensure Black-owned media outlets are resourced with original and innovative coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its intersections within the nation's K-12 education system.
Journalists and those within Black-owned media are invited to submit original proposals for investigative, feature, and enterprise for a single or series of original stories published/broadcasted in Black-owned media. Fast grants to freelancers and Black-owned media will be up to $10,000.
NABJ will provide the support to original journalism content submitted with an endorsement from a Black-owned media outlet for freelance journalists. A review of proposals will be led by the NABJ Black Press Grant Selection Committee and NABJ staff. NABJ will also distribute content produced from the grant through its newly launched news platform. The program is supported by a $300,000 grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI).
Requirements
The grant is open to journalists working at a Black-owned media organization within the United States or serving as a freelance journalist to a U.S. Black-owned news organization.
Membership in the National Association of Black Journalists is not required for funding support, but is helpful.
About the Company
I. Provide a succinct description of the topic you plan to focus on during the grant and outline the practical and logistical steps that will be required to complete it.
II. Provide a brief background of this issue. Explain if, and how, it has been covered previously, how it is relevant to your local community, and what aspects remain to be examined.
III. Explain how you expect to report about the issue you will cover. Will it result in a single news story; multimedia production; feature article; a series of articles or broadcast stories; special supplement; podcast; or TV/Radio show with your employer? Do you expect to publish/broadcast in news outlets other than your own?
IV. If you are a freelance journalist, please outline your publishing strategy. How do you plan to get the story published? Outline any potential news outlets to whom you plan to pitch the story. Applications with letters of commitment or intent to publish/broadcast from news outlets will be given preference.
V. Explain the proposed timeline you will follow while reporting your stories, keeping in mind the program orientation dates and publishing deadline.
VI. Explain how you plan to advance the story (in quality, number of readers/listeners/viewers or impact). The project proposal is intended to be preliminary, and you are not expected to necessarily have final details and contacts in place at the time of the application.
VII. Provide a line-item budget.