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We have a lot of newsletters at Poynter. When I started, we had none in editorial. Now we have a daily newsletter ([link removed]) , one for women in media ([link removed]) , one for local journalists ([link removed]) (hello!), several for and about facts ([link removed]) and fact-checkers ([link removed]) , one on digital tools ([link removed]) , one for student journalists ([link removed]) and one for journalism educators ([link removed]) . They’re like little text dinner parties for people who care about the same stuff.

Last week, my colleague Doris Truong launched a new newsletter, The Collective ([link removed]) , and it’s one that deserves all of our attention.

“As we approach the first anniversary of the racial reckoning in America’s newsrooms, the unique challenges of being a journalist of color continue,” she wrote last week. “And who understands what we’re going through better than someone who has been through it themselves?”

The Collective, which will publish monthly starting in April, came out of discussions at Poynter on how to increase diversity and serve broader audiences, Truong told me.

“All the time, Sam (Ragland, our Poynter colleague) and I would say this is something journalists of color need to hear from other journalists of color.”

And they thought it would be perfect as a newsletter. The TEGNA Foundation, which is funding the newsletter’s launch, agreed. Truong worked with alumni from our diversity academy ([link removed]) and staffers of color at Poynter to bounce around ideas for the name. Meta Viers ([link removed]) , content manager at PBS Kids, came up with The Collective. And the art you see here comes from designer Susana Sanchez-Young ([link removed]) , who you’ll learn more about in a welcome newsletter from The Collective. (That’s your teaser to go subscribe ([link removed]) .)

The idea with every step of this newsletter is to lift up and amplify voices we aren’t always hearing — something we have to do a lot more of in our industry and with our work.

In her intro last week, Truong wrote: “We want to hear about times when you were The Only. Or tell us how you got others to recognize that your idea was worth resources — and that you were the person up to the task. You might choose to share an ongoing struggle; lots of us are ready to commiserate. How do you feel when someone asks, ‘Are you OK?’ with no follow-up action? What is it like when something in the news makes you feel seen? Whom do you turn to when you need to vent about another frustrating day of emotional labor?”

There’s also a Council of Truth-Tellers, which is the best name ever, who will convene to answer anonymous reader questions.

I asked Truong what kind of pitches she’s looking for with The Collective (note: freelancers are paid for their work, as they should always always be).

“I’m really interested in how a lot of local newsrooms, especially in places that are largely white, might have only one journalist of color,” she said.

Maybe that person embodies multiple “only” categories — race, gender, nationality, sexuality, disability and more.

“And yet they’re the only. So I want them to feel the support of The Collective, and I want other people to see what kind of challenges they go through in that environment. How can they stay in that environment and succeed?”

In the newsletter and our industry, she also wants to see journalists of color, at all levels, feel empowered to speak up on issues that matter to them and to know they’re not the only ones.

And for white journalists who want to be allies?

Listen, Truong said, and make space for others.
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While you’re here:
* This is fantastic guidance from AAJA ([link removed]) and I’m sorry they had to say it: “On behalf of our broadcast members nationwide, the Broadcast Advisory Council of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) urges newsrooms to empower their Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists by recognizing both the unique value they bring to the coverage of the Atlanta shootings and the invisible labor they regularly take on, especially in newsrooms where they are severely underrepresented.”
* Shinhee Kang wrote for CJR about Korean language newsrooms in Atlanta ([link removed]) and how they covered last week’s spa shootings.
* Support our colleagues ([link removed]) through the AAPI Journalists Therapy Relief Fund.
* The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a condolences page ([link removed]) for people who want to share them.
* CNN’s Oliver Darcy spoke with staffers at The Denver Post about this week’s supermarket shooting ([link removed]) .
* The Post has stories about the victims ([link removed]) .
* Boulder’s Daily Camera has a piece about the growing wall of memorials and tributes outside the grocery store ([link removed]) .
* This is such a powerful piece about health, parenting and the pandemic ([link removed]) from Local Edition friend Kari Cobham.
* Come work with my team! We’re hiring a part-time editor ([link removed]) .
* Speaking of jobs, check out the Public Media Career Fair ([link removed]) on March 31.
* Check out Open News’ latest project, DEI Coalition. ([link removed])
* Apply for a fellowship ([link removed]) to attend IRE.
* Two weeks ago I left a link out of this item, sorry! Chalkbeat + RJI want to build a better system for source diversity tracking. Here’s how you can help ([link removed]) .
* Last week I wrote a kind of part two to an obit I wrote for the Tampa Bay Times in 2019. I have never been a subject in one of these before, but, in this case ([link removed]) , was happy to be part of the story.
* And take a moment to learn about the life of Paul Brock, a journalist who helped create NABJ ([link removed]) .

That’s it for me. I hope the people you love are able to get vaccinated and if it hasn’t happened yet, that your shot is coming soon,

Kristen
Kristen Hare
Editor, Locally
The Poynter Institute
@kristenhare ([link removed])
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