Supporting AAPI Community Media in the 2024 Election Cycle.

Launched in Fall 2022, the Asian Media Initiative (AMI) at CUNY Newark Journalism School’s Center for Community Media (CCM) is the first national initiative dedicated to supporting and sustaining in-language and community-based news media for and by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) across the U.S. and its territories. Its primary goal is to ensure that AAPI, including their most vulnerable and marginalized communities, have access to a robust and healthy news media ecosystem to foster civic engagement and equity in this fastest-growing population in the U.S. In December 2023, AMI published the first national directory of 662 community media outlets serving AAPI. This grant will support AMI's efforts to enhance capacity and provide supportive spaces and training for AAPI community media journalists working in in-language and community-based newsrooms during the 2024 election cycle, as they navigate accelerating safety risks and digital disinformation. Additionally, the grant will support AMI's goal to offer targeted programming to revive the Asian Media Women’s Network, convene a series of public events featuring AAPI community media leaders serving and engaging AAPI voters (especially in swing states); and to disseminate newsletters with elections reporting resources for AMI constituents.