Celebrating Our Founders: 44 Years of Impact

Dear NABJ Members and Supporters:

Today is a special day! On this day 44 years ago, NABJ was founded in Washington, D.C., because of the passion, commitment and vision of 44 great men and women!

Thank you to our Founders, Past Presidents, Past and Present Board Members, Volunteers and Partners for your dedication over the years. NABJ changed my life and I know for sure that it has changed the lives of thousands around the world.

During my administration, I want to focus on honoring and advancing the ideas that our Founders had when they came together on this historic day. We will return to the place where they gathered, as we meet for our joint convention with NAHJ from July 8-12 at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park.

Our Founders and past leaders set out to accomplish many goals including:

• Strengthening ties among Black journalists
• Sensitizing all media to the importance of fairness in the workplace for Black journalists
• Expanding job opportunities and recruiting activities for veteran, young and aspiring Black journalists, while providing continued professional development and training
• Increasing the number of Black journalists in management positions and encouraging Black journalists to become entrepreneurs

You can read more about the full list of our goals and NABJ history here and more about our Founders here.

Upholding the pillars that our Founders established for us, while innovating and elevating our programming and services, is vitally important to our success. That is why we have launched and will soon announce several new efforts to ensure we continue to move the needle on access and parity forward, as our Founders intended.

There are two very important ways you can help us accomplish this today!

If you are a member, take ourJob Satisfaction Survey, so that we can collect new data to help us gauge the progress or lack of progress being made in newsrooms and other media companies when it comes to how Black journalists and media professionals are being treated and paid in the workplace.

Click here to access the survey!

Also, with the increasing number of layoffs and industry changes, we want to ensure that our members have access to training and job opportunities even when they face hard times. There may even be students who, like me when I first joined NABJ, can barely afford to make it to a convention. In honor of Founders’ Day, we are asking you to donate $19.75, $44.00 or any amount you choose today, as we close out our first phase of the Help A Member Excel Fund fundraiser. Thanks to those who have given already!

The donation link is here!

In the coming weeks, we will also announce ourEach One, Reach One Campaign.We will be asking our members to reach out to their colleagues and friends and encourage them to join NABJ or renew their membership. We will be rewarding members who help us grow our family with exclusive discounts for convention registration. Stay tuned for those details!

Our Founders also worked to ensure that Black journalists felt safe in the newsroom and on the field. A few days ago, I returned from Doha, Qatar and participated in Al Jazeera’s Press Freedom Symposium as a featured speaker and panelist. I was honored to carry the vision of our Founders with me and spoke to people from around the world about NABJ’s impact. During my visit, I announced NABJ’s renewed focus on the fight for press freedom and the protection of journalists. More details will be shared at a later date about our upcoming efforts.

With great gratitude in my heart, I am honored to serve NABJ! We are blessed to have such a strong legacy built by our Founders and past leaders. While we have unfortunately lost several of our Founders over the years, their impact will certainly live on!

I am also grateful because, on a weekly basis, I hear from several of our living Founders with offers of support for various projects and always an encouraging word. They are active in continuing NABJ’s mission and are involved at every level of the organization, right down to mentoring the next generation.

Please join me in expressing our heartfelt thanks for their efforts and for the work of our organization’s leaders, and our members, volunteers and organizers over the years.

Thank you and Happy Birthday, NABJ!

Dorothy Tucker

NABJ President

@Dorothy4NABJ