In an effort to target  increasing media coverage of the impact of COVID-19 on communities of color in southern Delaware, the DCF Journalism Internship Program will place interns in several newsrooms in the state. 

Rising college juniors and seniors and recent graduates are invited to apply. People identifying as Black, indigenous or people of color are particularly encouraged to apply. The deadline is March 19.

Funded by a Community Needs Grant from the COVID-19 Strategic Response Fund and the participating media outlets, this program will embed college students as reporting interns in established Delaware print, broadcast and online news outlets to focus on Black and brown communities, which are hit hardest by the pandemic.

According to a news release, the goals of the DCF Journalism Internship Program are to increase mainstream multimedia news coverage of Southern Delaware BIPOC communities, focusing on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 and elevating the underlying reasons.

In addition, the program hopes to increase representation of BIPOC interns in Delaware newsrooms, building a pipeline for greater representation over the long term, according to the news release. 

The program also will facilitate collaboration among the newsrooms to generate more in-depth coverage and get the information to a larger audience, by leveraging multiple news platforms.

“Strong local journalism fosters stronger communities, increases civic engagement and provides information that informs good public policy decisions,” Allison Taylor Levine, DCF’s vice president for marketing and communications, said in a prepared statement. “This internship program will help deepen our understanding of some of Delaware’s undercovered communities and build a pipeline of underrepresented voices for our newsrooms."

Participating Delaware news outlets confirmed to date are:

• Cape Gazette
• DelawareOnline/The News Journal
• Delaware Public Media
• Delaware State News
• Technical.ly Delaware
• WHYY

Full program details, and information on how to apply, are online.