Hey there,
Last week, I connected with a new journalist friend for the first time. She asked me what I see as the biggest challenge in our industry right now. I paused as a flood of answers came rushing into my head, but the correct answer quickly rang through: a lack of imagination.
It’s not a challenge unique to journalism. The past year—the pandemic, uprisings in response to white supremacist violence, climate crises—forced us all to shift into new ways of being. I went through the shelter-in-place routine for weeks on end. My brother cooked his dinner on a fire pit in his driveway during Texas’ ice storm. The nation took to the streets in protest for Black Lives for months. We all adapted, and new ways of operating and being together rapidly emerged.
The South has shown no lack of imagination in the face of crisis after crisis. At Scalawag, we’ve been thinking hard about how to keep that same energy moving forward in order to continue imagining our way to a more just and equitable South—and eventually, hopefully, a better nation and world.
The thing about imagining is it takes time. That’s why we took the first three months of this year to get clear about our vision for the South and Scalawag’s unique role in getting us there. We ended up with new vision and mission statements, as well as a sense of organizational value and clarity of purpose to support our theory of change for the South and beyond.
For many, this may sound like nonprofit jargon. For us, it’s a North Star lighting our path. The destination—that of a more just South—remains the same, but we hope you’ll notice a difference in the sure-footed, deliberate, and steadfast ways in which we move.
Above all else, Scalawag is people-powered media. We are excited to see you join us in this journey (and maybe even throw in a few coins to help us make it possible.)
Without further ado, here’s what we’re imagining for the future of Scalawag—and the South:
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With gratitude,
Cierra
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Cierra Hinton
Executive Director-Publisher
Scalawag
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