Community-centered journalist needed at Dallas Free Press

Dallas Free Press is looking for a full-time journalist to listen to the residents of South Dallas and West Dallas, two of the city’s historically redlined neighborhoods, to ensure their stories are told and their voices are heard. The role focuses first and foremost on community journalism and prioritizes the civic issues emerging from these communities — not just the problems but also what can be done about them.

Your work will be part of groundbreaking efforts on the part of a new Dallas news nonprofit that works collaboratively with other local media to tackle complex civic issues. South Dallas is predominantly Black, and West Dallas is predominantly Latinx with many residents whose native language is Spanish. We’re seeking journalists who reflect the culture, diversity and experiences of these neighborhoods.

What you’ll do

• Spend time in South Dallas and West Dallas, both being present at community gatherings and meetings, and making efforts to get to know neighborhood residents individually
• Familiarize yourself with the civic issues important to these communities and stay abreast of impactful decisions at City Hall, Dallas ISD, Dallas County and other local government entities
• Learn the history of these neighborhoods and reflect that context in your writing and reporting
• Use both storytelling skills and data reporting know-how in your weekly published work
• Collaborate with journalists across Dallas to get to the bottom of stubborn issues such as housing justice, food apartheid, the digital divide and more

Who you are

• You relish the challenge of making complicated or “boring” topics interesting.
• You are a people-focused person, and community engagement is part and parcel of your reporting approach.
• You much prefer shoe leather journalism to parachute journalism.
• You understand the difference between storytelling and story-taking.
• You want to do more than simply admire problems, and you are either versed in or interested in learning about solutions journalism.
• You’ve spent several years working with one or more news organizations and can hit the ground running.
• You’re familiar with open records and have the ability to navigate government data and documents.
• You live in, grew up in, or reflect the culture, diversity and experiences of South Dallas and West Dallas (Spanish fluency is preferred).
• You understand the current challenges of newsrooms and community trust.
• You are creative, innovative and resourceful in your work, and reliable to meet deadlines.

This is a full-time position with an annual salary of $40,000 to $50,000, depending on experience. If you are interested in applying for this position, please submit your résumé and work samples by Tuesday, Aug. 3, via this link: https://forms.gle/BE5tBuUt6mnRMsdNA

Applications for this position will not be accepted via email, and we will be unable to respond to applicants until after Aug. 3.

If you are interested in partnering with Dallas Free Press, please reach out to executive director Keri Mitchell. 

If you’d like to financially support the efforts of Dallas Free Press, you can do so here. We also invite you to follow our work and be notified of volunteer opportunities via email, texts to South Dallas and West Dallas residents (in English and Spanish), and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.