Los Angeles Times Announces Journalism Initiatives with CSUSB, Cajon High School

The Los Angeles Times today announced a youth journalism and community engagement project in collaboration with California State University, San Bernardino and Cajon High School in San Bernardino. The project is intended to encourage public service through journalism and to honor victims of the Dec. 2, 2015 terrorist attack. It will help expand community coverage of San Bernardino through The Times HS Insider student journalism platform, Cajon High School’s Cajon Courier and CSUSB’s Coyote Chronicle.

The Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage of the San Bernardino massacre. A Times delegation went to Columbia University in New York last week to receive the prize and a $10,000 check. Davan Maharaj, Times Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, said that the staff was donating the $10,000 to the journalism project in San Bernardino.

“Our reporting on San Bernardino showed how a community can come together in the face of adversity, find strength in each other and work together to solve problems,” Maharaj said. “We hope to honor the victims and the community as a whole by helping to create more opportunities to spark dialogue, tackle tough questions and tell the stories of San Bernardino.”

The Times’ HS Insider team will partner with Cajon High School’s journalism program to sponsor 14 students for a fall journalism conference, and one for a paid summer internship, and will introduce a “My San Bernardino” feature. In addition, a grant from The Times will fund a dedicated editor and reporter at CSUSB’s Coyote Chronicle to launch a community news section. Cajon High School’s student journalists also will have the opportunity to receive mentoring from the Chronicle staff and pitch stories for the college newspaper.

CSUSB hosted a community event Thursday at which Maharaj announced the youth journalism and community engagement project.