Programs
EcoTalk is an environmental podcast co-produced by Communities of Hope and EcoRI. Hosted by Jack Aviles and Sam Elwell, EcoTalk is a discussion of Southern New England’s economy, ecology, and ecosystems. Each episode covers a different topic relating to environmental justice, sustainability, biology, and more. Listen and learn more about different aspects of the world around you and how you can help better it!
The Hope Project is a solutions-oriented, social justice, history, and culture podcast produced by Communities of Hope. Every semester, RWU students work with professional journalists, community members, and experts to tell the hidden histories of how things became the way they are and how they can change for the better.
Transforming Roger is a training ground for transformative investigative journalists. Produced by RWU journalism students and staff, TRWU uses multimedia reporting to look at our institution’s past and current practices through a justice lens, so we can make RWU better for all our communities, inside and outside RWU.
Hope Squad is the pre-professional, year-long training program for K-12 students in new approaches, methods, and technologies in transformative journalism. During the 2022-2023 academic year, the first cohort of Hope Squad, currently with 18 students, will meet once a month on Zoom and later meet in-person at the Communities of Hope Summit. During each meeting, students will learn directly from a specialized professional and workshop their own stories. Participants will be paid for each story they produce and submit as part of the program and will have their stories published by professional media.
Hope Lab is a fellowship training program in which different cohorts, varying from school teachers to community members and media professionals, will receive specialized training customized for their needs and goals. Our first cohort will have high school teachers, advisors, and mentors who are currently running or want to create a news organization for high-school-aged journalists. This can be for a school-sponsored program or an independent before/after school program. This cohort will focus on how to teach the same skills, techniques, knowledge, and practices as the Hope Squad will be receiving and how to manage a community-oriented newsroom out of an educational institution.
In addition to the fellowship, we will also pay a small fee to the educators and to each newsroom participating in this fellowship on top of paying the students for their submissions. Future cohorts of Hope Lab may include local organizations looking to improve their professional training offerings, such as nonprofit organizations working with refugees, houseless, disabled people, retirees, K-college programs, incarcerated people, diaspora communities, and media professionals looking to improve their skills and quality of life.