Erika at the welcome party for our final cohort of Knight-Mozilla Fellows. (Photo by Erik Westra)

OpenNews has always been about connecting people. From the origins of our fellowship program (look at that array of faces!) that connected technologists with newsrooms interested in innovative work to our current work on Slacks, at SRCCON, and at conferences, we are always looking for ways to help people learn from and support one another.

It’s been a huge privilege to get to spend 12 years on the OpenNews staff helping to plan and organize these community connection points. I’m now leaving the OpenNews staff team, and I look forward to being a participant in this incredibly generous community.

Jessica and John will be leading the OpenNews team forward, while Ryan is on leave to investigate the power of peer learning and his own leadership on a JSK Fellowship. As I go, I’ll be doing a bit of wrap-up facilitation, supporting Jessica and John in planning for where they want to take things next. I’m excited for them to have the time and space to explore what this work looks like for them as co-directors and for OpenNews’ role in the industry. I shared more of my reflections about this transition in our newsletter.

When I became Executive Director of OpenNews in 2018, I spoke about how “At OpenNews, our work is to support and sustain those invisible networks. To make it easier for folks to connect. To take a breath. To band together and build.”

The importance of connection and collective building has remained central to OpenNews, and as John and Jessica plan for the future they are eager for your feedback and support in refining what it means to support the journalists within journalism.

You can reach them at team@opennews.org and I’m hello@erikaowens.com. Thanks again for the opportunity to serve and learn with you all! If you’re interested in sustaining this work and are able to make a financial contribution, I invite you to join us as a sustainer (or consider a one-time gift or, if you are already a sustainer, increasing your contribution). One of my favorite moments at OpenNews is when we launched the sustainer program and saw how many people were eager to support each other in this new way. I look forward to the ways we will continue to learn and grow with each other.