Intersections South LA becomes part of the Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative



We are excited to announce that Intersections South LA will be part of the newly created Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative at USC Anenneberg. This project will help us refocus our local online journalism efforts by partnering with the Alhambra Source, and incorporating Communication research from the Metamorphosis project. And we are looking forward to launching a new program for 18-26-year-old residents of South LA to report on their own communities.

Those are the positives. The downside is we did not receive enough funding to continue to hire a full-time editor. As a result, the editorial side at Intersections will decrease the amount of content we’re producing in the coming months.

Intersections South LA was officially launched in 2009 as a reporting lab for USC journalism students and a source of news and information for residents in South LA, which has traditionally been under-served by the media.  We have maintained the website these past few years with financial help from J-Lab, the McCormick Foundation, the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism—where Intersections South LA is based—and the hard work of journalism students, faculty, staff and community contributors.

Despite decreased funding, our mission remains the same. We will use this time to do some strategic planning and identify priorities for our coverage and for better community engagement, and to brainstorm ways to financially support the website. Please let us know what type of content you depend upon by taking this survey. And if you have stories you would like covered, let us know.  With continued community contributor input and student journalist reporting, we hope to continue coverage of important issues in South LA communities.

Upcoming Plans
We plan to switch our website platform to a WordPress site in October.  You’ll notice a revamped website, new graphics and new features.  In the meantime, we welcome suggestions.

Communication doctoral students will begin posting about their research on South LA in the coming months. 

We will begin recruiting in January for a journalism training initiative for 18-26-year-olds who will be community reporters for Intersections South LA.  If you, or someone you know, would like to get involved in this program e-mail dgerson[at]usc.edu.

What you can do:
Send calendar items, photos, story ideas to southla[at]usc.edu.

We will be posting a survey soon.  Please take it so we can incorporate your ideas and suggestions on how we can better serve the South LA community.

Thank you for your ongoing support, and do not hesitate to write with any questions or thoughts.

Willa Seidenberg
Co-founder and director, Intersections South LA

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