FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 12, 2024
Contact: Clare Lefebure
clare@nlgja.org
WASHINGTON, DC (November 12, 2024) – Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists named CONNECT students Amira McKee and Chinanu Okoli the recipients of the 2024 Phillips-Green Family Scholarship. These scholarships provide financial assistance to two CONNECT participants in order to support their participation in the CONNECT program and help launch their careers as young journalists.
“We are so excited to be partnering with the Phillips-Green Family Fund,” said NLGJA Executive Director Adam Pawlus. “Thanks to their generosity, we are thrilled to continue our support for young journalists whose work exemplifies our mission of creating a more fair and diverse field of journalism.”
Our CONNECT Student Journalism Training Project provides real-world, hands-on experience to students or recent graduates pursuing a career in journalism.The Phillips-Green Family Fund aims to provide organizations with financial assistance that work towards the education and well-being of women, children, and families. Their support helps make it possible for students in financial need to participate in our CONNECT program.
About the Recipients:
Amira McKee (she/her/hers) is a junior at Columbia University majoring in Sociology. She serves as the Head of Investigations at the Columbia Daily Spectator. Beyond Columbia, Amira has interned at NBC Nightly News and ABC New York and will be joining The Current GA as a 2024 summer fellow through the Dow Jones News Fund. With a special interest in issues surrounding housing, land use, and labor, she hopes to pursue metro and investigative journalism.
Chinanuekpele “Chinanu” Okoli (he/him/his) is pursuing a degree in journalism at Boston University. Chinanu serves as Co-Programming Director and Campus News Editor at WTBU, where he started Melanin Matters, Boston University’s only Black news outlet. He also reports for the Cambridge Day, Daily Free Press, and BUTV and most recently interned at GBH News. His ultimate goals are to provide more authentic and fair news coverage of oppressed communities and promote more sustainable and healthy journalism practices.