BY ZENENA MOGUEL
Email: zenenam@mail.usf.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2015) –Stories written by Neighborhood News Bureau journalists about education efforts, a new radio station and the longest-living pastor in Midtown were recently published in The Weekly Challenger, the Tampa Bay area’s largest circulating newspaper covering the African-American community.
Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB) journalists, Lorien Mattiacci and Indhira Suero Acosta, graduate students at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, are currently working towards their Master’s of Arts in Journalism and Media Studies.
Mattiacci’s story In Pinellas County, groups collaborate to get kids reading focused on the Juvenile Welfare Board’s “Read Across the Globe” initiative, which partners law enforcement officers with students to help improve their reading.
When Mattiacci found out her story would be published, she was overjoyed.
“I was so excited,” said Mattiacci. “This was my first non-academic publication.”
Suero Acosta’s stories, Radio for the people and Bishop Leonard: 58 years serving the community, were also recently published. Her first story focused on Black Power 96 which is a radio station created by the African People’s Education and Defense Fund (APEDF) to help the Midtown community. Suero Acosta’s second story made the cover as the main story. It was a feature on Bishop Preston D.H. Leonard, the longest living minister serving the community.
Suero Acosta was pleased that her hard work was being recognized.
“I was really happy because it shows that my effort paid off,” said Suero Acosta. “And, also because English is not my language so it’s really nice to have something published the first time that you do something.”
The Weekly Challenger and NNB partnership helps aspiring student journalists at USFSP get their work published in a professional publication.
Mattiacci and Suero Acosta hope to continue contributing.
To view full stories, please click the links below:
In Pinellas County, groups collaborate to get kids read
Bishop Leonard: 58 years serving the community
About Neighborhood News Bureau
Neighborhood News Bureau is a working newsroom, staffed by University of South Florida St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students under the guidance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies faculty members. The newsroom opened in Midtown, St. Petersburg March 2006. Its mission is to serve the Midtown and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg. For more information, visit http://www.nnbnews.com/ or email nnb@usfsp.edu.
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