API launches second Inclusion Index cohort to better engage communities of color in Pittsburgh

The American Press Institute is returning to Pittsburgh to kick off a second API Inclusion Index cohort and support five media organizations’ efforts toward better engaging communities of color. The project, which launches this month, will emphasize training news organizations in deep community listening.

The new project continues the work of the API Inclusion Index in Pittsburgh, where the American Press Institute worked with five news organizations throughout much of 2022 to develop an in-depth understanding of diversity and inclusion-related challenges within the Pittsburgh news ecosystem. 

“Based on API’s experience with the first cohort, we decided to return to the Steel City to help media organizations develop best practices for listening and engaging traditionally marginalized communities,” said Letrell Deshan Crittenden, Ph.D., API’s director of inclusion and audience growth who developed the Index. “The API Inclusion Index is based on the ideas of repetition and muscle memory, and we believe newsrooms and news ecosystems only get stronger when they deal with challenges on an ongoing basis.”

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