CA 2020: Democracy and the Informed Citizen, a new initiative designed to engage a broad cross-section of young Californians in consideration of the vital connections between democracy and journalism, launched on April 11 in partnership with the San Diego Community College District. On Immigration and Journalism, a free public event, featured Pulitzer Prize-winner Sonia Nazario in conversation with Joaquin Alvarado, founder of Studiotobe and former CEO of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Nazario, who won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for her six-part LA Times series “Enrique’s Journey” about Latin American children trying to immigrate to join their parents in the United States, discussed her experiences of reporting Enrique’s story and reflected on the state of journalism today.
Following the event, Nazario gave a presentation of “Enrique’s Journey” to San Diego area high school students and Alvarado led a discussion about the role that news and journalism play in their lives.
CA 2020: Democracy and the Informed Citizen is presented partnership with four community colleges—Bakersfield College, Shasta College, Foothill-De Anza and the San Diego Community College District. Over the next year, the initiative will bring Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists to campuses for public conversations, provide hands-on media literacy training for students and youth, and work to amplify young people’s voices and perspectives in the public dialogue. CA 2020: Democracy and the Informed Citizen is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Knight Foundation Fund, and the Nordson Corporation Foundation.
We thank The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their generous support of this initiative and the Pulitzer Prizes for their partnership.