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Fired Up: The Fire Up Entrepreneurship Program launches in Oakland

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Fire Up Fellows enjoy training, camaraderie at Oakland kickoff

The Fire Up Entrepreneurship Program launched July 29 in Oakland with training designed to build new business models, help Fire Up Fellows dig into the value proposition of their work, and apply the Maynard Institute’s Fault Lines® framework to their journalism and understanding of audience.

Fellows inventoried their resources and revenue streams, and they learned to identify their key activities and key partners. 

Doris Truong, deputy director of the Fire Up program, led a session on listening for values to deepen relationships. 

“We started selecting this cohort in the spring, so it’s truly inspiring to see them come together for the first time,” Truong said. “By sharing their successes and obstacles, they realize they’re not alone and they can support each other despite their distinct audiences. We also learned a theme of commitment to community runs through this cohort.”

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Finding common ground

After an introduction to Maynard Institute history, Fire Up Fellows along with colleagues from their respective outlets attended a mixer with California Propel Local News Initiative partners and Bay Area journalists to discuss journalism and how to overcome industry challenges. 

Héctor Félix Jr., publisher and president of El Informador del Valle, said the first few days of the Fire Up program were “a great, one-of-a-kind learning experience in an entrepreneurship program that fires up your business idea for success.”

Martin G. Reynolds, co-executive director of the Maynard Institute, said it was invigorating to open the program and to witness California’s investment in local news directly supporting publishers who serve vastly different communities.

“My session on the Fault Lines® and belonging was intended to show the Fellows that biases and blind spots don’t just create challenges within an organization,” Reynolds said. “They can also mean missed opportunities to build trust and deepen relationships with existing and new audiences, think more expansively about revenue opportunities and forge partnerships they otherwise might not have considered.”

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Considering multiple viewpoints

This initial training offered Fellows and their colleagues frameworks to consider different perspectives as entrepreneurs and as members of their communities.

“I appreciated the chance to review our business model and think more carefully about our audience, services, and revenue opportunities,” Faisal Karimi, founder and director of Nowruz Media, said. “… I also enjoyed learning from other media entrepreneurs and sharing our experiences and challenges.”

Fellows were asked to expand on existing business plans.

“The Oakland sessions were useful in a way most training isn’t,” said James Luckey Jr., publisher and editor of Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California. The trainers “didn’t let us map the whole business. They made us pick one new revenue stream, build [a model] and defend it in front of the room. That’s the part that stuck. I’ve sat through plenty of workshops where you leave with a nice worksheet and nothing to do on Monday. This wasn’t that.”

The Fire Up program, which provides each outlet with a $20,000 grant, continues through January with two additional in-person trainings and Zoom sessions on audience, community and product.

Propel partner and co-director of American Community Media Julian Do (left), talks with Akemi Tamanaha, associate editor of AsAmNews.
Katherine Ann Rowlands and Ryan Nakashima of Bay City News.
Odette Alcazaren-Keeley, Maynard Institute Communities of Practice and Maynard Regional Training Series director, discusses the Propel Regional Training Series with Faisal Karimi and Sohaila Erfani of Nowruz Media.
Co-Executive Director Martin Reynolds (right) with Fran Scarlett (center), Fire Up faculty.
Maynard board member and Fire Up faculty member Dickson Louie chats with Maynard Co-Executive Director Evelyn Hsu.
Maynard Institute Program Manager Jasmine Barnes (left) with Oakland Voices interns and Sathya Chaib (center) Saida Nor (right).
Clockwise from left, James Luckey Jr. (Observer Group), and Héctor Félix Jr. (El Informador del Valle), Brandon Brooks (California Black Media), Rob Waters (MindSite News), talk news.
From left: Akemi Tamanaha, associate editor of AsAmNews; Fire Up Fellow Priya Lava, operations manager of India Currents; and Prachi Singh, audience engagement editor of India Currents.
Fire Up deputy director Doris Truong talks with former NLGJA President David Steinberg.
Oakland Voices intern Sathya Chaib (left) and Oakland Voices director Rasheed Shabazz and still hard at work discussing social media strategy.

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