Other Programs

NAJA is also making a difference through its partnerships with other organizations dedicated to diversity in the newsroom. Scores of Native students have gotten a taste of journalism through the Freedom Forum’s annual Native American Journalism Career Conference and the American Indian Journalism Institute (AIJI) in South Dakota.

NAJA members mentor both Native high school and college students who arrive at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer, S.D., each spring for an introductory workshop on newspaper reporting and writing. NAJA professionals also work with AIJI college journalism instructors in a three-week journalism course during summers at the University of South Dakota. Native college students from around the country earn college credit, in addition to on-the-job training in journalism during AIJI, which is also sponsored at USD. Many of the students also acquire newspaper internships at papers across the country.

For information on the American Indian Journalism Institute and Native American Journalism Career Conference visit www.freedomforum.org/diversity.