Although this site has largely been dedicated to posting selected stories and creating an online portfolio of my work, I also think it’s important to highlight some of the other relevant work I’ve been doing.
When I was elected to the board of directors for National Association of Hispanic Journalists last summer, one of my goals was to relaunch NAHJ’s Sports Task Force. In the seven years I’ve been involved in the organization, there have been several attempts to launch a sports journalism arm – both directly as part of NAHJ and as a loose affiliate. However, there were always obstacles and challenges in maintaining such a group.
I have spent time the last several months trying to build an infrastructure so that the relaunched task force has a strong foundation from which we can create a lasting group. It has been a busy, yet productive period. I built relationship with the national office to ensure that we would have support at that level. I reached out to a number of members – both those I knew well and those who I had never actually met. I spoke with those who had tried to mobilize members in the past to get their feedback on what had worked and what hadn’t. I sought insight from the head of the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force, which has been a successful endeavor. My goal is to create an NAHJ Sports Task Force that is not only sustainable, but that will continue to evolve.
The official relaunch will take place at our convention in Denver, but I recently rolled out the social media platforms. Within three days, the Facebook page had over 50 fans and that number is still growing. The blog hits were also very encouraging as was the e-mail response I received.
I have organized a sports panel for the convention, and we will be holding at least two other events geared toward sports journalists. This is a dramatic turnaround from last year when we had zero sports events at the convention.
I believe journalists are defined by the work they produce that touches others. I believe people are defined by the work that they do that impacts others. My ultimate career goal is to accomplish both.
[…] I relaunched the NAHJ Sports Task Force this past spring, I wanted to make sure that we were active in working to make a difference for […]