The first ever Street Sights Journalism Training Program was a success! The Journalism Training ran from August 27th through 30th and was held at Mathewson Street Church in Providence, RI. Reporters from around the state taught workshops to more than 20 Street Sights staff and members of the homeless or formerly homeless community who are interested in journalism. We learned about standard journalistic practices and tested techniques that journalists, editors and photographers use every day in professional publications. Thanks to the BYFI Alumni Venture Fund, we were able to provide gift cards to the training participants. The gift cards were to bookstores, pharmacies, and clothing stores in Providence and will make a huge difference to our staff.
The training program was so important because although the goal of Street Sights is to give voice to the ‘voiceless,' it is also to create a professional paper that will be well received in the community. Since the training, the writing of our staff members has improved and two of our newest staff members decided to get involved because of their participation in the training program. Two of our trainers have also become very involved in the paper: One editor of another monthly paper leads regular writing workshops for our staff and another journalism professor is part of our Steering Committee in search of a new editorial team.
This February, Street Sights will have a new volunteer whose main responsibility will be to transform the notes and materials from our training into a journalism-training manual which can be used at Street Sights as well as at other street papers throughout the country. We hope to add to this manual each year as our training develops. This will be an especially useful tool as it will provide training to our writers, and as our staff members become more effective writers, and in turn communicators, they will be able to build skills that will help them not only change their own lives, but also the lives of countless others.
How to get involved:
If you have any time or skills to contribute to Street Sights, get in touch with Elizabeth Ochs (‘01) at elizabethochs[at]gmail.com.
