NEW YORK — The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education today announced a new $1.3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to launch an endowment drive.
The grant, which also includes funding for general support, will enable the Institute to build on its successful track record of helping America’s news media reflect the nation’s diversity.
The announcement was made in New York City as the Oakland, Calif.-based not-for-profit celebrates its 25th anniversary with dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria.
“It is especially fitting for us to announce this grant at this time because it gives us an opportunity to thank our most valued partners, our funders,” said MIJE President Dori J. Maynard.
Since its incorporation, the Institute has received funding from some of the leading foundations in this country. It began with a $25,000 seed grant from the Gannett Foundation and has subsequently received funding from the McCormick Tribune Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Freedom Forum, Phillip L. Graham Foundation and Times Mirror Foundation
“Diversity and inclusiveness are among the most important causes of our day. We are honored to be able to help by following the lead of foundations like McCormick, Ford and The Freedom Forum,” said Eric Newton, director of Journalism Initiatives for Knight Foundation. “We have helped endow professional groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. Maynard is to diversity what those groups are to press freedom and journalism excellence.”
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.
Incorporated in 1977, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, provides a variety of programs and services nationally, including Maynard Management at Kellogg, the Editing Program and programs tailored for the specific needs of individual news organizations.
Nearly 600 journalists are part of the “Maynard Family,” graduates of core programs, representing more people of color than trained by any professional association. An additional 1,200 journalists have been through targeted newsroom programs like Total Community Coverage, Reality Check/Content Audits and Fault Lines.
Participating newsrooms include the Akron Beacon Journal, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Detroit Free Press, among just 20 large newsrooms nationally that have met the American Society of Newspaper Editors goal of reflecting the diversity of their communities. Nine of 10 Maynard graduates stay in the news business.
Originally named The Institute for Journalism Education, MIJE was renamed in 1993 to honor its first chairman, the late Robert C. Maynard, former owner and publisher of The Oakland Tribune. Said Maynard: “This country cannot be the country we want it to be if its story is told by only one group of citizens.”