Community Engagement and Relations Assistant in Journalism

Job Description

The Communities of Hope program, a community news service under the Journalism Program in the Department of Media + Design + Communication, is looking for a student to develop working relationships with local communities in Rhode Island.

Communities of Hope is a community-driven solutions journalism news service working with specific groups of people who have been erased, marginalized, underrepresented, misrepresented and maligned by mainstream media outlets.

Our mission is to empower people in those communities through training, paid work, information gathering, and educational storytelling to participate in the public conversations about the issues that affect them, about their histories, and about their roles in society, making them a central part of the decision-making process.

The primary role of the Community Engagement and Relations staff member will be to assist Dr. Bernardo H. Motta to identify, contact, build and maintain relationships with community members, organizations’ leaders, local media outlets, and other institutions within the target publics of the program. This position also requires the student to help manage the program’s social media presence and engagement.

The student working in this position will be expected to:

  • Assist with the planning, liaison, and organization of projects by making contacts on campus and in local communities (phone calls, Zoom sessions, etc.), identifying potential source materials, and organizing and assisting students’ work.
  • Assist with developing public relations materials such as press releases, informational and educational pamphlets, brochures, social media products, etc.
  • Develop and manage the program’s social media accounts, web presence, and any other form of social relationship building and identity development.
  • Assist with the maintenance of a database of projects, organizations and community needs.
  • Assist with the researching, planning, and delivery of tip sheets, resources and databases to help students in the program to cover local communities.

The student will receive credit (bylines) and hold shared copyrights of every distributed product.

Special Skills Needed (You will learn most of it during the job): 
Intercultural communication, public relations, social media management, community organization and/or engagement, basic media law (preferred but not required), data management using Google Sheets (preferred but not required) and basic organizational skills.

Academic Major Preferred: 
Public Relations, Communication (Media Studies), or Journalism (with minor or experience in public relations or journalism), or any majors with community and social media management skills, intercultural communication knowledge, organizational skills and a general understanding of news media may apply.

Starting Date:
Applications will stay open until the position is filled.

*Students are prohibited from driving during work-study employment with the limited exception of authorized work-study driver positions.

** All employees, including student employees, are required to participate in a short online training  that will prepare you with the new protocols for working on campus. Please click on the following link to complete your training: http://rwu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a4aBCUkcc7Vl7QF

Starting Date

Department Information

Contact Name

Bernardo H. Motta

Department

Communication, Graphic Design and Web Development

Phone Number

401-731-4106

Email

bmotta@rwu.edu