Energy and appreciation at CivicStory's 2021 annual meeting
Board members, advisors, and staff welcomed partners and the public to CivicStory’s online annual meeting on November 30, 2021, with 35 in attendance.
Julia Sommer, CivicStory trustee and board secretary, described forums presented by the organization over the past year (for example, a youth-led challenge to explain global warming in three minutes), and noted that CivicStory plays an unique role in giving “young people opportunities to develop their identities as civic-minded citizens.”
Senior Editor Jennie Aylward echoed Julia’s enthusiasm for CivicStory’s elevation of the voices of young leaders. She introduced M. Blessing Akeju, a fellow participating in CivicStory’s signature project: the New Jersey Sustainability Reporting hub. Currently halfway through her fellowship, Akeju said, “I feel like I have grown a lot as a researcher.” She has “learned that it’s really a strategic and meticulous activity to do environmental research….It’s hard, it’s difficult, but it’s rewarding.”
Susan Haig, CivicStory trustee and founder, outlined the work of University of Missouri (“Mizzou”) students to develop, in collaboration with CivicStory, a playbook for replicating CivicStory’s New Jersey Sustainability Reporting project around the country.
The audience heard updates from former Mizzou team leader Tatyana Monnay, CivicStory summer fellow Abby Orf, and summer intern Jamie Kim. Orf said, “The fellowship really gave me an opportunity, as a young journalist, to feel out a lot of different jobs, and get to know people, and get to know what the nonprofit collaborative field is really like…It really helped me figure out where I wanted to go in the field.” She is now a special interest publication designer at Lee Enterprises, a national newspaper publishing company.
Board chair Pamela Daniels highlighted the importance of contributions for CivicStory’s ongoing programming, and noted that CivicStory is a participant in the NewsMatch program that provides matches for donations made through the end of the year to nonprofit news organizations.
The meeting included confirmation of the organization’s board of trustees for 2021-22, including new trustees Elaine Tanimura and Vaibhav Sharma, and confirmation of officer positions. Trustees thanked 2020-21 board and staff members, and thanked outgoing trustee Frank Robertazzi for his five years of service.
