Get free writing advice, sign up for free trainings & paid assignments via Documenters and meet up with other mediamakers in the city.
By Bettina Chang
City Bureau, a civic journalism lab based in Woodlawn, is launching a new event series to build a community around mediamakers in Chicago and to offer free career and writing support to local residents.
Our monthly City Bureau Pop-Ups will be hosted at a Chicago Public Library, typically from 12 to 8 p.m. Why should you come?
We’ll be offering free writing/media advice, directly from City Bureau editors. Sign up for a one-on-one consultation and we’ll give free advice on any piece of writing, or on how to contact journalists and media outlets about issues in your community. (That includes resumes, personal essays, pitches/stories, op-eds, press releases, who to contact at which publication, etc.)
You can learn about and sign up for our Documenters program, which offers free trainings and paid assignments for residents who care about government transparency and accountability. For enrolled Documenters, we’ll be there to talk about past assignments, brainstorm story ideas and help develop your skills.
Since 2015, City Bureau has convened a robust community of journalists, mediamakers and Chicago residents who care about producing more equitable and impactful local news. If you are looking for a coworking space or a place to meet likeminded folks, this is it!
Each Pop-Up will have an overarching theme and include a short activity to get to know each other. We hope this helps grow relationships between folks who show up during the open coworking hours. In the evening hours, we’ll have a special workshop or featured guest related to the theme in the evening. And we’ll offer some snacks, of course.
So how does it all work, in practice?
Come by the first City Bureau Pop-Up on Wednesday, February 19 at the Chicago Bee Library (3647 S State St, Chicago, IL 60609) to find out!
Our theme will be job search & career advice. So stop by anytime between 12 to 8 p.m. to chat with City Bureau staff, other reporters and folks who are interested in news and media. We’ll also be hosting mock interviews from 6 to 8 p.m. in the library’s meeting room, where we’ll ask you common interview questions and give you detailed feedback.
You can sign up for a one-on-one session, RSVP or see who’s coming here.
If you’re familiar with City Bureau, you know we’ve hosted events like this before. The City Bureau Pop-Up combines two previous series, our Editor Office Hours (which used to be two-hour windows every week) and the Documenters Drop-In. We are hoping the Pop-Ups will attract more people from within the City Bureau community, in addition to attracting local residents who can make use of our services. The longer time frame will also make it easier for folks to do coworking and networking, two of the top requests that we hear from our Fellowship alumni and Documenters. If you have feedback on this format, please reach out to a City Bureau staffer or email info@citybureau.org.
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