Rural Journalism Internship Program
A gift to the Rural Journalism Internship Program helps CoJMC students pursue career-shaping opportunities while supporting the future of local journalism across Nebraska.
About the Campaign ✏️
The Rural Journalism Internship Program helps offset housing costs for CoJMC students who take summer internships in Nebraska towns under 80,000 people. Housing is often the biggest barrier keeping students from accepting these opportunities, especially in unpaid or low-paying newsroom roles. Covering that gap lets students gain hands-on experience in reporting, broadcasting and public service while helping rural newsrooms fill vital community-coverage roles in news deserts. Past interns have covered flooding's impact on farmers, produced dozens of local videos and stories, and strengthened trust between small-town newsrooms and the communities they serve.
How does this impact students:
Roughly 8–10 students receive housing awards each summer, and their reporting reaches readers, viewers and listeners across the rural communities they serve — 427 of Nebraska's 531 communities are classified as rural.
Why you should support this project:
Local journalism is disappearing from small-town Nebraska, and this program directly addresses that decline while launching the careers of the next generation of journalists. It's a tangible way for donors to invest in both students and the survival of local news in the communities they or their families call home.