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Garden State Association of Black Journalists
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GSABJ CONFERENCE CALL MINUTES
Saturday, April 16
Submitted by President Kevin Howell
Please be advised that our next meeting will be in-person on May 14 at noon
at the Asbury Park Press. Hope to see you guys there. You can also call in
our regular conference call line for that meeting as well.
On the line: Kevin Howell, Sherlon Christie, Dana Wilson, Karen Collins,
Linda Corrin, Deidre Childress, Reggie Johnson
Digital workshop: GSABJ is planning to host a digital workshop to focus on
helping our membership learn various new media skills such a video for the
web, social networking, multimedia journalism, writing for the web,
blogging, etc. Because of the time of year and the upcoming NABJ convention
in Philly, we plan to hold this event in the fall. Dorine has been working
on the in initial stages of this by doing research and contacting the Philly
chapter, which held a similar even earlier this year. If anyone has any
suggestions or would like to help with the event they can contact Kevin or
Dorine. The plan is to make this event free to GSABJ members but charge for
the general public.
Fundraising: Linda, who chairs the fundraising committee, submitted ideas
for fundraising. She suggested having a social dinner event, coupled with
another professional organization to be held at a black-owned restaurant or
business. We would charge for tickets but keep the price minimal. Suggested
having it on a Thursday, Friday or Sunday evening. The focus of the event
would be socializing but it could have different themes such as education,
elections, economy or community service. These events could be repeated in
different parts of the state.
Sherlon volunteered to organize small fundraisers such as a bowling night
and/or a golf or miniature golf day. He said he's held events like this is
the past and they are easy to put together.
Website: Dana will be working on re-establishing the website. She wants to
incorporate a jobs section for members only on the site. She also would like
to have a history of the chapter on the site and ask that if anyone has
photos from past GSABJ events to contact her.
New business: Reggie Johnson from the Metuchen-Edison NAACP is interested in
partnering with GSABJ. He said he's concerned with the lack of black
reporters in the news media and would be interested in a status report on
the number of African-Americans employed in the NJ media. He would like to
present that information at the NAACP state conference.
He also mentioned his chapter's Greenwood/Rosewood Project that helps
support black business and could use help in assisting these business with
business plans.
On May 12 his chapter is hosting a panel on "The African-American Image in
America in Edison. He requested a representative from GSABJ to sit on the
panel. He also invited GSABJ to present a workshop at the NAACP state
conference in September in Parsippany.
NABJ Reinvention Committee has been hosting a series of BlogTalkRadio shows
designed to help members in different phases of their careers. They are
half-hour sessions done on the web and/or phone. The next one is Friday,
April 29 at noon, led by Neil Foote of Foote Communications and he'll be
speaking on mid-career professionals revamping their skills and becoming
more tech-savvy. You can register for this on the NABJ website.