More than 40 people attended our first Credible Messenger Link-Up and Info Session on May 6 at Temple University, including some of the city’s most prominent journalists and gun violence prevention community leaders. Presenters included Maxayn Gooden, Jim MacMillan and Oronde McClain from our Center plus Philadelphia Inquirer breaking news reporter Beatrice Forman and Temple journalism professor Yvonne Latty.
We convened the event because we are hoping to launch five new reporting teams in our Credible Messenger Reporting Project soon and the first step is to apply, but it’s a pretty simple process and attendance at this event is not required.
If your life has been impacted by gun violence in Philadelphia and you would like to be paired with a professional journalist to help you get up and running as a community journalist, please: Apply to become a Credible Messenger.
If you are an advanced professional journalist interested in teaming up on a project with a Credible Messenger community journalist, please: Apply to become a Professional Reporting Partner.
Team project support up to $7,500 is available.
Teams that with have already been paired should work together and submit a Credible Messenger Project Proposal Form.
If you have any questions, please use our contact form .
More info | Frequently asked questions | Reporting resources
We are grateful to IDEAL for sharing their beautiful new space with us. IDEAL stands for Institutional Diversity, Equity, Advocacy and Leadership at Temple University. We are grateful to the Logan Center for Urban Investigative Reporting at the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University for partnering to coordinate event. And we are grateful to the Independence Public Media Foundation for supporting the Credible Messenger Reporting Project. But above we are grateful to the community representatives, violence prevention leaders and journalists who spent the day with us. We will be working hard to honor your contribution and move forward together.
Photographs by Kriston Jae Bethel