The Fall 2016 Durham VOICE staff assembles for a group portrait, (front row, seated, left to right) Homer Fennell, NCCU; Brandon Callender, UNC; Rob Gourley, UNC; Christopher McKoy, NCCU; Prof. Bruce “DP” dePyssler, NCCU; and Niu Jinrong, UNC visiting international scholar; (second row, standing, left to right) Allie Beeks, NCCU; Prescious Blackwell, NCCU; Amil Mangum, PYO; Nafisa Shah, PYO; Veronika Payne, PYO; Meredith Wilson, UNC; and Prof. Lisa Paulin, NCCU; (third row, left to right) Travon Wallace, NCCU; L’erin Jensen, UNC; Trevor Barnes, NCCU; Ashlen Renner, UNC; Brenna Elmore, UNC; Riley Turner, UNC; and Christian Phillips, UNC; (back row, left to right) Jordan Wilkie, UNC; Carlton Koonce, Partners for Youth Opportunity; Jenny Valle, PYO; Jock Lauterer, UNC; Noah Grant, UNC and Jimmy Wilkie, UNC. (Photo courtesy of Niu Jinrong)
The fall 2016 Durham VOICE kicked off its eighth year with its traditional Durham community orientation tour and site visit, Sat., Sept. 10.
With the slogan of “Our Community. Our Times, Our Voices,” the Durham VOICE is a collaborative effort between the journalism program at UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. Central University. Launched in September 2009, the VOICE also partners with area high schools, the City of Durham and area civic and community leaders. In addition, the Durham NGO “Partners for Youth Opportunity, supplies the VOICE with a teen staff of young reporter-photographers. According to UNC founding publisher Jock Lauterer, the VOICE is the only such community newspaper of its type in the nation, including a critical partnership between the state’s flagship university and the local HBCU.
The Triangle Business Journal honored the VOICE with a “Leaders in Diversity” award earlier this month. Showing off their new hardware are, left to right Jock Lauterer, UNC; Lisa Paulin, NCCU; and Carlton Koonce, Partners for Youth Opportunity.
The UNC staff includes co-editors Dillon Deaton and Rachel Herzog. Reporter-writers include Meredith Wilson, Jimmy Wylie, Christian Phillips, Heng Su, Hollie Shelton, Brenna Elmore, Rob Gourley, Noah Grant, Riley Turner, L’erin Jensen, Jordan Wilkie, Elise Holsonback and Ashlen Renner.
The NCCU staff, led by Professor Lisa Paulin includes Allie Beeks, Homer Fennell, Kayla Jones, Christopher McKoy, Nijah McKinney, Trevor Barnes, Travon Wallace and Prescious Blackwell. The NCCU effort is also supported by VOICE co-founder Professor Bruce “DP” dePyssler.
Workplace Coordinator Carlton Koonce leads the Partners for Youth Opportunity teen staff, which includes Jenny Valle, Nafisa Shah, Veronika Payne and Amil Mangum. Durham Tech freshman LaMon Jones is serving as this year’s teen editor-in-chief.
The VOICE publishes online twice monthly, and a print VOICE edition hits the streets each mid-month, October through December, reaching 2,000 readers at 60 drop-spots throughout Northeast Central Durham.
Irrepressible Durham barber Samuel Jenkins regales the VOICE staff with his come-back saga during their Sept. 10 site visit to the community. After a devastating fire, Jenkins rebuilt his shop almost single-handedly. (Staff photo by Jock Lauterer)