Meet the 2025 Community Journalism Class!
Image credit: Headshots of 2025 “Citizens as Journalism” course. All photos provided by course participant.
We’re thrilled to announce the 2025 Public Square Amplified “Citizen as Journalist” Community Journalism Class cohort!
Now in its third year, the Community Journalism Class combines classroom instruction with in-the-field, hands-on learning to train a new cadre of citizen journalists, giving them the skills to explore storytelling as a tool for civic engagement and sharing what matters most in their communities.
With news deserts on the rise and local news being defunded on the federal, state, and local levels, it’s more critical than ever that we support the training of community journalists who deeply understand that local news is crucial for preserving democracy and centering stories from those historically unvoiced.
We welcome this cohort, made up of students, writers, activists, and leaders in their communities, as they begin a full summer of studies in news reporting, photojournalism, opinion writing and more, with a focus on Public Square Amplified’s mission to train new local journalists to use journalism as a civics tool.
Please join us in congratulating them and stay tuned for their work to be published and featured on our website and social media — we cannot wait to see what stories they have to tell!