Epicenter NYC

A cool thing happened this week: I received a proclamation from NYC Council during its Diwali celebration for service to the city and the work we are doing over at Epicenter NYC to center our communities and their information needs. Special thanks to my councilman Shekar Krishnan, the first Indian American elected to office in NYC. My remarks (which I ended up riffing through off this rough gist) are here: https://lnkd.in/ehpmY8hk (Also as my 12yo said to me: I cried at the wrong time. Leave it to the kids to be honest and make you replay moments that you already won't let go of...) Awards are nice but it's easy to give back to a city that has given me so much. My father immigrated here in 1971 and his first job was as a file clerk just a few blocks from where I was honored. My mom worked at a Burger King in Sunset Park. What has been possible for us in one generation is a damn miracle -- and entirely a result of this city's vibrancy and hospitality for people like us. May that continue...

I woke up today in the same America but with a new realization about the urgency of our work. The presidential election results and NYC’s voting patterns leave us with many lessons to apply for better coverage of the upcoming mayoral and other races. If you feel despair over the state of our city and country, if you feel like you don’t know your neighbors anymore, join us in building better. My plea in Epicenter NYC just now. Unlike in 2016, when I worked in a large mainstream news organization that was caught off guard, this time around, I am grateful for Epicenter NYC’s clarity in who we serve and who guides our path forward: You. I moved up our donation drive because we gotta lean into community building and grassroots institution building more than ever. Please give whatever you can. If you have a DAF, ping me and I can field that way too. https://lnkd.in/emaXvTv6

🎉 NEWS: Another important milestone for Epicenter and the diverse communities that make up NYC. Today, we are proud to share that we are among 205 local news outlets awarded part of $20M from Press Forward to close coverage gaps. This will enable Epicenter to deepen actionable coverage to non-English speaking families on issues and resources that impact their children’s lives. https://lnkd.in/gwW2HXvv

NEW: We partnered with The WNET Group / THIRTEEN to elevate New York voters' concerns ahead of the presidential election. Your Voice Matters, a new digital series co-produced with Epicenter, launches with episodes on housing, caregiving and immigration. 📰 More about what this means: https://lnkd.in/eHmqhiQp 🖥 Episode 1 on housing is live - check it out on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/eZG_5aM2

As we celebrate our four-year anniversary, growing from a newsletter to an award-winning multiplatform community journalism organization, we want to note the incredible work our small and mighty team continues to do. Epicenter has jumped on important news for our community and reported with a uniquely Epicenter angle –- before outlets much bigger than ours. It is not about being the first but about providing actionable information and context. For example, this in-depth story on budget woes for community composting: https://lnkd.in/eZ9NfnFJ Or our coverage on EBT and SNAP since launch, with explainers like this one on how to access funds for food, reaching audiences beyond our platforms and in different languages thanks to URL Media and partners like Documented. https://lnkd.in/eiuPs-wc Or this feature on a lottery for affordable housing co-ops in Harlem. Epicenter has been covering the housing crisis all along with an eye toward getting and keeping New Yorkers in their homes.  https://lnkd.in/eYE8EdiX We’ve increased our video publishing with explainers from how to stay safe in the heat and the latest with Covid to free and low-cost things to do this summer for teens. https://lnkd.in/eKnGDrdi We presented the first-of-its-kind two-day immersive event in partnership with the Dept. of Transformation. And most importantly, we are out in the community regularly because we live in these neighborhoods. Thank you to all who have supported our efforts, partnered with us and helped better serve the communities we represent. Team: S. Mitra Kalita, Nitin Mukul, Carolina V. Valencia, Suyin So, Janelle Zagala, Daniel Laplaza, Femi Redwood, Ambar C., Nicole Perrino, Mariana Navarrete, Juliana Taomin G., Adriana Proaño, Jatin Vichare.

📢 GOOD NEWS: We've launched the Epicenter Foundation, a nonprofit organization that will advance critical efforts in support of diverse communities. The foundation will strengthen our efforts to bring resources and information to neighbors, provide access to job opportunities, connect communities to health care providers and mental health experts, and spotlight artists and businesses. Info: https://lnkd.in/eyBf6x_C S. Mitra Kalita / Nitin Mukul

📢 GOOD NEWS: We've launched the Epicenter Foundation, a nonprofit organization that will advance critical efforts in support of diverse communities. The foundation will strengthen our efforts to bring resources and information to neighbors, provide access to job opportunities, connect communities to health care providers and mental health experts, and spotlight artists and businesses. Info: https://lnkd.in/eyBf6x_C S. Mitra Kalita / Nitin Mukul

We're being honored! Join us this Thursday, March 7th from 6pm - 9pm, for a special networking event hosted by Catholic Migration Services, a nonprofit services provider that helps neighbors with work authorization, housing and more. Get your ticket: https://lnkd.in/eM6V5BNN

Before launching my startups, I spent the last few years of my career pushing for change in mainstream newsrooms, big places like CNN and the LA Times, in big jobs like SVP and managing editor. I wonder now if it’s time to accept that neither speed nor embrace of digital media will be enough. Execution is not our problem; it’s the absolute reinvention of what news actually is and what it means in people’s lives. Only then might we be valued in the same manner as a Hulu or Netflix subscription. Thankfully, we have some good examples in community media of what is working, trusted, relevant, even profitable or sustainable, and occasionally joyful and beautiful. One attendee came up to me and said, “Every time you speak, you always invoke Frederick Douglass.” This repetition is intentional so I do so here again (sorry, not sorry) and explain why: Douglass’ newspapers helped readers escape slavery, access healthcare and browse ads to reconnect with loved ones. .... I often get asked why we are for-profit. Some context (even as I know very few white men who get asked why they seek so much profit):   - Money is power, and we seek community media to be more powerful and resourced than it currently is.  - We focus on the creation of value for our partners, advertisers, sponsors, and communities themselves.  - BIPOC media operates in service to communities, uplifting small businesses along the way; advertising and paid content such as job ads and event listings can be as important to users as our journalism.  - We do not envision support and coverage of Black and Brown communities as “charitable” endeavors, rather we center our joy, uplift each other and embrace our nuances.  - There can be restrictions on nonprofits and political activities (campaign endorsements, for example).  - Social justice and wealth creation not only can go hand in hand. They must. Black and brown communities continue to suffer from a yawning racial wealth gap. (I just ordered my copy of “Fifteen Cents on the Dollar: How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap” by journalists Ebony Reed and Louise Story. I suggest you do too. From a Black bookstore, if you please…) More takeaways on #KMF .... https://lnkd.in/erFHCtRq

I talked about creating value to users/communities so they will indeed see us as necessary as other services they pay for.