Darrin Kerr of the American Journalism Project (AJP) has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI).
As Head of Growth Investments at AJP – which has awarded a $1 million, three-year grant to LJI to launch Spotlight Delaware – Kerr focuses on how to build strong, resilient nonprofit news organizations across the United States. Before joining AJP, Kerr held leadership positions at Teach For All, helping found and scale education nonprofits across the globe and building the network infrastructure for those organizations to learn from one another. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
“AJP is excited to support Spotlight Delaware because it’s an innovative model that authentically seeks to serve and represent diverse communities throughout the state.” Kerr said. “Spotlight’s focus on supporting the ecosystem – partnering with other newsrooms and co-creating the editorial strategy with the community – is exactly what the local news industry needs in order to thrive and to be able to reach more communities more effectively.”
Kerr’s expertise in scaling early-stage organizations will help LJI build Spotlight Delaware into the type of sustainable local news organization that Delawareans need, LJI President Allison Taylor Levine said.
“We’re committed to building long-term solutions to help Delawareans access information about community resources, deepen their understanding of their neighbors, and stay informed and engaged,” Levine said. “Darrin’s experience and his knowledge of similar nonprofit news organizations around the country will help us make sure we realize that vision.”
To learn more about Spotlight Delaware and become a Founding Member, visit spotlightdelaware.org/support.
ABOUT THE LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE (LJI)
LJI, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, is working to strengthen local journalism as a vehicle for a stronger democracy and thriving communities throughout the First State.
###