Emily Lonigro is the owner of LimeRed Studio, a creative firm that specializes in concepting and producing marketing and branding creative for community- and environmentally-focused organizations and small businesses. She has been the Workshop's secret weapon for the past 3 years! Register for her upcoming training or visit her blog to know more about her fanastic work with nonprofits.

Does your website give you a headache?
We have a solution: website and design diva Emily Lonigro gives you some solutions to make your website effective.
 
Websites: Make It Pretty, Make It Effective
9 a.m. to noon, Thursday, April 2
Engage your audience with an effective website that stands out. In this workshop, website expert Emily Lonigro shows you essential concepts to master before you even get started. You will also learn the do's and don'ts of website design as well as how to integrate your website into a more comprehensive print and online program. Register today!
 
Spokesperson Webinar
2 to 3:15 p.m., Thursday, April 2
Past participants say “The best thing I learned was…
“…the use of personal stories to answer questions as well as bridging technique” - Amanda Morgan, Michigan State University
 
“…the tips on how to create an agenda-based conversation with the media were great” - Mary Ellen Solon, University of San Francisco
 
“…bridging technique, which can be used in many situations” - Nicole Horvath, American Friends Service Committee
 
When the media calls, will you be ready to be your organization's spokesperson? Media expert Thom Clark will show you how to stay on message and in control while being interviewed. First six people to register will have an opportunity to be interviewed. Sign up today!
 
Tweet Tweet Brown Bag Lunch - FREE
Noon to 1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 9
Wondering what the hype about Twitter is and how it benefits you? Come to "Tweet Tweet,” Community Media Workshop's FREE Twitter brown bag to hear gurus discuss their best practices and ways organizations can use Twitter to build and engage audiences. With:
 
Kara Carrell, Interfaith Youth Core
Yesenia Sotelo, Heartland Alliance
Joe Schmitt, Burrell Communications
 
Moderated by the Workshop's very own Lovette Ajayi
 Register Today!
 
Stellar Special Events
9 a.m. to noon, Thursday, April 16
Now more than ever, your fundraiser needs to be a success! Find out from special events expert Jill Stewart the secrets of creating fabulous and stress free receptions and fundraisers.
 
Through a series of short lecture modules and hands-on exercises, participants will learn what makes a successful event including how to plan, manage and produce the entire process including budgeting basics. You will also learn to define your target market and learn to properly prepare and promote your event to generate buzz. Workshop will take place at Rotary International, 1560 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201. Sign Up Today!

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Advocate+Communicate=Change
2009 Making Media Connections Conference June 10th and 11th

"Good communications are important in the best of times but critical in tough times," says David Krumlauf, Chief Technologist for the Pierce Family Charitable Foundation.

“Funders like to know what grantees are doing to cope and to best learn how they can be most effective with their grants.”
 
We’re David’s biggest fan… he’s the first person to sign up for this year’s Making Media Connections Conference! He’s also planning to take workshops with trainer Beth Kanter, he says: “I travel a long way to hear Beth speak! ... I see social media as the next essential step for nonprofits to better communicate with their funders and volunteers.”
 
Early-Bird Registration now open! Be cost effective and take advantage of this special EARLY BIRD PRICING! Log on to register and find out more about this year’s conference at http://www.communitymediaworkshop.org/mmc09

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Workshop board and staff were humbled and honored last week to receive our strongest-ever financial support, great crowd, and thoughtful comments at our Studs Terkel Community Media Awards Benefit. Teresa Puente, Alex Kotlowitz, and other journalists we’ve honored with Terkel awards over the years spoke to our patron saint’s legacy on a moving video, available here.

If you would like to hear David Jackson’s poetic tribute to Studs and see some pictures of Scott Simon’s amazing suit, the whole thing is available at www.chicagopublicradio.org.

In 2008 at this event, journalists were angry. This year, they were more reflective in face of the changes in the news business. Simon put it best when he underscored the need for journalism that is “unbossed and unbought… that afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted.” Amen, and we know Studs would approve. Read more

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Get your copy of the 2009 Getting on the Air, Online & into Print media guide

• Our current 18.2 version is the most updated release with 50 more pages and over 100 more contacts then last year and 600 new contacts, including expanded regional, community, online and ethnic media outlets.
  
• Includes our 2009 Making Media Connections Handbook with worksheets from our training, editorial features on the media lansdscape, and articles written by experts in the field.
  
• Our digital guide is also available as a download for your convenience, with included PDF resources.
  
• As a subscriber to our media guide, you’ll also get ongoing updates of major changes in the field.

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Mark Jacob
First Deputy Metro Editor, Chicago Tribune

Mark Jacob recommends nonprofits imagine the reader’s perspective when trying to pitch him stories. They “shouldn’t try to pitch what readers don’t want to read,” he says.  “Imagine how it’ll be received.” Over in the metro section, Mark says they could use more investigative and human-interest stories – ones that offer a small glimpse into the larger stories of today. And his section doesn’t just cover Chicago, it includes the suburbs, too.  He says the best way to pitch him is with a combination of email and a phone call. Pitch Mark at 312-222-4675 and at mjacob@tribune.com.
 
Catch Mark at our Making Media Connections Conference, June 10 and 11. 

Find more outlets and peple to pitch from our 2009 Getting on the Air Online & Into Print Media Guide updated version 18.2.

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“Community, Media and You”
Saturdays at 8 p.m. on CANTV 21
The Community Support Advisory Council helps former offenders get back on their feet. Hear their unique approach from founder Rev. James Coleman – an ex-offender himself. Airs this Saturday, March 28 on CAN TV 21.
View the Archives | Subscribe to feed

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Burnham Plan: A Critical View
Newstip Date: 03-22-2009
Jane Addams and the women of Hull House might have something to add to the discussions now swirling around the centennial of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago.

They weren't consulted at the time -- though if they had been, the plan could have been much more comprehensive. And more attention to their ideas about addressing Chicago's problems might have saved us a lot of trouble (and money) over the past century. Read More

Latest from Newstips Blog
Burnham Plan: a critical view. Longtime community activist Jan Metzger offers a fascinating critique of the 1909 Burnham Plan of Chicago, from the point of view of the women of the settlement house movement and their allies — whose grassroots practical work (and detailed sociological research) offer a sharp contrast to Burnham’s legacy of planning-from-above.

Carpenter school hearing. Substance has two reports (and great photos) on Friday evening’s hearing on moving Ogden International High School into the Carpenter Elementary building (Carpenter parents’ suspicion of this outcome was first reported here).

Green Chicago? Chitown Daily News interviews Loyola Professor Harold Platt, an environmental historian, who calls Mayor Daley’s green city campaign “a total public relations fraud,” while the Chicago Tribune reports on the city’s failure to meet goals for purchasing electricity from renewable sources as well as the failure of its carbon offset purchases — and notes shortcomings in air and river cleanliness, among other areas.

More needed on banks, economy. What’s up with the Obama administration: pulling executive compensation limits from bailout legislation, and now proposing a bank plan (considered seriously inadequate by Paul Krugman and others) that rehashes the original Paulson plan, seemingly in the service of protecting existing bank ownership from the consequences of their mistakes?

And what’s up with the predictions from Obama and his officials that the recession will be over in a year?

Read latest Newstips | Read Newstips Blog

Newstips is a grassroots news service providing journalists with stories and sources from Chicago-area nonprofits and community organizations. Journalists can receive Newstips via email or subscribe to this RSS feed.

Nonprofits can send their press releases and stories to Curtis Black, Newstip Editor via email at curtis@newstips.org.

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See CMW at…

Champaign Nonprofit Communicators Meetup
Gordon Mayer talks about “Social Media, the News and Nonprofits” and meets with nonprofit communicators in Champaign at 5 p.m. next Friday, March 27 at the School of Labor Education, Univ. of Illinois, Champaign. Learn more, RSVP at http://tinyurl.com/cmw327

2009 Creative Chicago Expo
10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, April 9 at The Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington 
Visit our booth – as 1 of more than 100 vendors we’ll be knocking 20 percent off our 2009 Getting On the Air, Online and Into Print Media Guide. The Expo is a free, day-long event that connects Chicago's arts community with the services, spaces, information and the networks that they need. We’re also helping to put on a panel discussion on new approaches to building audience, such as reaching out to multicultural audiences, tapping the vitality of young people, harnessing social media, and working in community.

Chicago Freedom School’s Midwest Youth Organizer Training Institute
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, April 20-23, Chicago
The school is collaborating with the Workshop and other local orgs to offer a four-day training covering leadership development, connecting youth organizing to movement-building work through history, practical organizing techniques, and more. Cost is $220, includes breakfasts and lunches. Get the flyer and registration form and learn more at www.chicagofreedomschool.org.

Forces for Good: Key Practices that Transform Organizations
Early Bird Deadline, April 3; May 13 and 14 event, at Axelson Center for Nonprofit Mangement, North Park University, 3225 W. Foster Ave. 
Author Leslie Crutchfield keynotes Axelson’s tenth annual Symposium. Gordon Mayer of CMW will be on a panel at the Symposium Institute. Full schedule of events at www.northpark.edu/axelson/symposium. Costs $150 per day by April 3, $225 after April 3. Discounts and scholarships available. Call 773-244-5799 for more info.

Upcoming events & activities from friends of the Workshop

Society of Professional Journalists Spring Conference
April 3 and 4, Indianapolis, IN
Meet new people, network and hear some of the industry’s best and brightest on topics ranging from Freedom of Information to emerging technologies. The conference will offer plenty of great programming for all attendees, from seasoned professionals to students. The conference is open to all. Costs $85 to $100, student discounts available. See full schedule and register at http://www.spj.org/regionalconf-5.asp.
 
What Nonprofit Employers Need to Know in a Tough Economy
9:30 to 11 a.m., Tuesday, April 28 at Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP, 225 W. Wacker Dr.
The economic downturn forces non-profit employers with already limited budgets to face even greater challenges, including possible staff reductions. David Weinstein from Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP will discuss Illinois and federal law governing non-profit employers' labor-related rights and obligations. Costs $30 to $35. Advance registration required at www.eventbrite.com/event/272613394. More info at www.cedlp.org.

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Emerging Photography Grant
http://www.burnmagazine.org/emerging-photographers-fund/
Burn Magazine is accepting applications for a $10,000 grant to give to an emerging photographer. Deadline is April 1, 2009. The grant is for either journalistic or personal artistic projects. Application and guidelines at http://www.burnmagazine.org/.
 
Freedom Fellowship
http://chicagofreedomschool.org/initiatives/youth-leadership-development
The Chicago Freedom School is looking for it’s next group of freedom fellows. During the fellowship, students will get paid while learning about social justice and activism. They will work with mentors to implement a plan of action around a social justice issue. Fellowships are for young people aged 14 to 17 and is for one year. Deadline is May 1. Contact Hilda Franco at 312-435-1201 or hilda@chicagofreedomschool.org.
 
Liberty Tree Campus Initiative
http://mccormickmediamatters.blogspot.com/2009/03/plant-liberty-tree.html
The McCormick Foundation will award $5,000 to colleges that develop a compelling and inspiring First Amendment program. For the full guidelines and instructions on how to apply for the grant, contact Sandi Chance at schance@jou.ufl.edu or Jon Bougher at jbougher@ufl.edu.
 
New blog of note
Ever needed to convert a PDF to a MSWord document? Valerie Denney Communications’ blog has a tip for you! It’s on their new blog at http://valeriedenneycommunications.blogspot.com/  (the PDF tip is from March 13, 2009, scroll down to check it out).

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Political Reporter
Chicago Public Radio, WBEZ 91.5 FM 
Chicago Public Radio is looking for a full-time political reporter to cover Chicago area local and regional politics for their locally produced public affairs programming, news casts and web site. Candidates must have 2+ years broadcast journalism experience, with strong digital editing and writing skills. Knowledge of Chicago politics a huge plus. Benefits package, including medical and dental PPO, domestic partner benefits and generous paid time off available. Full job description at www.chicagopublicradio.org/jobs. 

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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
WHAT'S NEW?
TRAINING
FEATURES
2009 MEDIA GUIDE
PEOPLE TO PITCH
BROADCASTS SHOWS
NEWSTIPS
EVENTS AROUND TOWN
NEW ON THE WEB
COMMUNICATION JOBS


Communicator Tips
From Tips from the Experts: Appeal to a reporter’s vanity – it doesn’t hurt to reference a story of theirs you liked. Know who you’re pitching – find out their beat and what else they’ve covered. Show you’re knowledgeable of the topic you want covered – do some research and know key players
-Michael Hawthorne, Environmental Reporter from Chicago Tribune
Get More Tips

Nonprofit Communicators!
Find a place on the web for people like you! Join our nonprofit communicators ning social network.
Join the adventure!

Chicago is the World!

Chicago is the World: A doorway to ethnic media in the American Heartland
Articles, Commentary, Resources and Links Chicago's Ehtnic journalists and their communities. A blog by Steve Franklin.

Visit, read and subscribe to Chicago is the World blog.

Did You Get eNotes as a Forwarded Message? Subscribe to eNotes, the latest updates from Community Media Workshop. Subscribe Here

Tweet! Tweet!
Follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/npcommunicator

NP Communicator Blog
More tips, resources and reflections for the nonprofit communicator. Latest Entries:

• Brenda Starr on the cutting edge • The stories of federal funding types • Making Social Media Accessible • Aww, we’re (nonprofits) so great

Visit, read and subscribe to the NP Communicator Blog.

"Community, Media & You" Videocast

“Community, Media, and You,” produced in cooperation with CAN TV Community Forum.
Latest Entries:

• Organizing in the Black Community • 2009 Studs Terkel Award Winners with Alden Loury

Visit, read and subscribe to the "Community, Media & You" videocast.

Programming on Chicago Public Radio's "Chicago Amplified"

Listen to Community Media Workshop special events on "Chicago Amplified" at wbez.org. Select "Community Media Workshop" in the "View Event Archives By Partner" drop down menu.

Create a Better Press Alert
Create, preview & print a press release with our online newstips.org press release generator.

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Visit Our Websites
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Adventures in Nonprofit Communications