From the PNA Foundation, April 2005

PNA Foundation focuses on youth readership.

We want to help our members reach younger readers, so the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation is embarking on a new venture aimed at increasing youth readership and strengthening NIE.

The Foundation board at its April meeting unanimously voted to create a new committee that will be made up of publishers, several NIE coordinators, representatives from the editorial, marketing/advertising and circulation departments and educators. The central idea is that youth readership is a total organizational, rather than a single department, issue. This committee will knock down the silo-mentality and work to create industry-wide programs to engage young readers.

For years, Pennsylvania’s NIE committee was a national trailblazer. Because of the many changes in the industry in the past few years, the Foundation felt it was time to revamp its efforts as well. We’re confident this new committee will continue the state’s leadership role to everyone’s benefit and will enhance NIE efforts throughout the state.

We continue to be committed to NIE, youth readership and student engagement with newspapers. This is a terrific opportunity and an exciting move forward, and builds on the Foundation’s many other efforts in support of NIE and scholastic journalism.

If you have any suggestions for our new efforts or any questions about it, please contact Connie McNamara, Executive Director of the Foundation, or Janet Bevan, Manager, Outreach and Partnerships.