NAHJ Washington, D.C. Chapter

D.C. Chapter selects Nicole Chavez and Francis Orellana for Charlie Ericksen Internship Supplement.

We are pleased to announce our inaugural recipients of the Charlie Ericksen Internship Supplement. Congratulations Nicole Chavez and Francis Orellana! They will receive a one-year student membership to NAHJ and $200 to be used on a Metro Card during their summer internship in the nation’s capital. Chavez is interning at the Washington Post. Orellana is interning at Hispanic Link. The supplement is named in honor of Charlie Ericksen. He is the founder of Hispanic Link News Service and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. He is an active member of the D.C. Chapter.

Several journalists gathered at the Science Club in Dupont Circle to mix and mingle on Thursday, February 21. Special thanks to At-Large Officer Andres Gonzalez for organizing the mixer. (Photos Courtesy: Jackie Diaz)

We’re going to California!  The Excellence in Journalism convention with
the Society of Professional Journalists, Radio Television Digital News Association, and NAHJ is on August 24-26, 2013 in Anaheim.

The NAHJ Washington, D.C. Chapter is offering to pay the Early Bird a la Carte Registration fee for two professionals and one student member. NAHJ members in the District, Maryland and Virginia can apply  by emailing nahjdc@gmail.com. Send a resume and write a one page  letter on what you hope to learn at the convention. Also describe your financial situation. Winners must ensure national dues are paid. The
deadline is Friday, May 31.

Registration Raffle
The chapter is also raffling off Early Bird a la Carte Registration. Tickets are $25. The lucky winner will be drawn at our membership meeting in May. The drawing is open to any NAHJ DC member who is current with their annual dues. Email nahjdc@gmail.com to get in the drawing. Mail a check to NAHJ ATTN: Anna Lopez 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20036. Please indicate it is for the
NAHJ Washington, D.C. Chapter.

A la Carte Registration includes:
— Two Super Sessions
— 60 breakout sessions
— Access to the Journalism Expo
— Participation in newsroom tours and critiques
— Opening Night Reception

Early Bird | Register by July 25
Member: $205
Student Member:  $155

San Antonio Mayor, Julián Castro, and Telemundo Anchor, José Diaz-Balart , meet with members of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Washington, D.C. Chapter. Couresty: Franklin Garcia.

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro met with members of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists during our Chapter Mixer and Membership Drive on Sunday, January 20. More than 30 members gathered at the home of Carolyn Brown in Northwest D.C. to hear Castro as well as Telemundo Anchor José Díaz-Balart speak.

Castro delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. He is the first American Latino to do so.

Castro kept a busy schedule the day before President Barack Obama’s second public inauguration. He and his brother, Congressman Joaquín Castro, (D-San Antonio), appeared on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday morning. The brothers also attended the Lone Star Project Presidential Inauguration Celebration honoring the five new Texas Democratic Congressional members that afternoon and spoke at the Latino Inaugural Gala at the Kennedy Center before attending the D.C Chapter mixer and membership drive.

Castro answered questions from Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent at The PBS News Hour. Castro talked about how education is important to everyone. He highlighted the new Pre-K program voters in San Antonio passed in November. ”The communities that thrive are going to be the one’s that are educated,” Castro said.  He went on to say, “that brain power is not created in minority groups.”

“It was fun to pick the brains of a clear up-and-comer in American politics,” said Suarez. ”We talked about how politics had changed in recent decades, how poverty, inequality, the health of the nation’s cities, seemed to disappear from political party platforms. At 38, he’s mayor of the 7th largest city in the country… and seems to be keeping it all in perspective,” Suarez said.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro takes questions from NAHJ D.C. Chapter member Ray Suarez. Suarez is a Senior Correspondent at The PBS News Hour. Courtesy: Brandon Benavides.

Note: Media are allowed to use pictures and video posted on this page. Please courtesy the NAHJ Washington, D.C. Chapter. You can find more pictures posted here.

Brandon Benavides
Chapter President

NAHJ DC Members,

Over the past year, we have been a very active chapter.

We met newsroom leaders at The Washington Post, Telemundo Washington Bureau, NBC Latino, Scripps-Howard Washington Bureau, and WUSA-TV/ 9News Now. We also met with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the U.S. Capitol.

Several members took advantage of our chapter workshop series. More than a dozen members participated in our Spanish Language Writing workshop at Univision Noticias DC. Another dozen or so members learned about radio storytelling at NPR.

We held our first chapter fundraiser in three years “Una Noche con Periodistas” at the home of Ray Suarez from PBS NewsHour and it was a great success.

We established the Charlie Ericksen Internship Supplement to help Washington interns get around town. We paid the registration for two members to attend the Unity Convention in Las Vegas.

We began the year with $5,766.09 in our account. With the help of all our active members, we ended the year with $8,279.11.

Thank you for making 2012 a great year. We look forward to 2013.

Sincerely,

Brandon Benavides
Chapter President

NAHJ DC Chapter 2012 Account Summary

NAHJ DC Members,

As you know, we have two vacancies on the NAHJ DC Chapter Board: Secretary and At-Large Officer. Three people volunteered to fill the positions.

The current chapter board met with all three candidates and found all of them would be a great addition to the Chapter Board.  However, none of the three candidates qualify to be Secretary because neither candidate is a regular member of NAHJ. One candidate is a student member, another is a recent graduate, and the third works in the Public Relations department at a Spanish Language Media Company. We feel all three would be great At-Large Officers. I’ve included a biography of each of the candidates.

Our intention is to appoint all three candidates to the At-Large Officer position and keep the Secretary position vacant until the next election in July. Please let us know your thoughts on this proposal. If there are no objections, I will make the appointments at the end of the month.

I will excise the power of appointment as mentioned in our By-Laws.

Article X SECTION 3: SUBORDINATE OFFICERS AND STAFF

The Board of Directors may appoint, and may authorize the president to appoint, any other officers that the business of the corporation may require, each of whom shall have the title, hold office for the period, have the authority, and perform the duties specified in the bylaws or determined from time-to-time by the Board of Directors.

Sincerely,
Brandon Benavides
Chapter President

Candidates
Andres Gonzalez is a multimedia, bilingual freelance journalist. He has worked with the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. first as a news intern and then as a freelance video producer.
One of his favorite assignments was producing a multimedia, long-format report for The Associated Press on minority, low-income Washington, D.C. residents being priced out due to urban redevelopment.
Before the AP, Andres interned at USA TODAY, WTTG FOX 5 D.C., Public Broadcasting Service, Capital News Service and Corridor Inc. magazine.
Andres graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in political sciences and broadcast journalism. As a student, Andres was the editor-in-chief of La Voz Latina–U-Md.’s only Latino newspaper–and worked at U-Md.’s television station.
Andres was born in Colombia, grew up in Puerto Rico and lived in England. In his free time, he enjoys watching documentaries, trying ethnic cuisines, baking and learning languages (currently learning French).

Born and raised Venezuela  Melissa Macaya is passionate about reporting and producing news about political and international issues especially focused on Hispanic and Latin American topics. She has gained journalism experience on the local, national and international level producing news content in both English and Spanish. During her undergraduate career, she worked in the media departments of the Organization of American States and the Washington Office on Latin America while also collaborating with various news outlets that included Globovision and Hispanic Link News Service. She then was chosen as a Fellow at NBC News as part of the NAHJ/NBC Fellowship where she served as field producer for Nightly News. In the Fall semester of her senior year, she worked with Univision in Texas helping produce news packages about Hispanics in the state and around the country. Melissa loves to travel and has lived in 5 countries: Venezuela, Spain, Mexico, Argentina and the United States. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Georgetown University and working at CNN’s DC bureau with its CNN en Espanol team and Assignment Desk.

Cynthia Martinez is the Marketing Director for ZGS Communications, a multimedia company that owns and operates the largest group of Telemundo affiliates, radio properties, holaciudad.com and more. Cynthia drives all station marketing efforts from beginning to end, while also providing day to day support and training to 14 marketing coordinators across the company. From strategy to creative media placement, she establishes marketing priorities for the group, incorporates new platforms and supports digital and social media marketing efforts. She is a graduate of the University of Central Florida.