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NAHJ
finances are 'healthy' It
wasn't quite business as usual at the National Association of Hispanic
Journalists quarterly board meeting Tuesday. The
eight-hour meeting started late due to a false fire alarm that shut down
elevators and escalators at The Westin Seattle hotel for more than 30
minutes. Once it got going, much of the discussion focused on this week's
Unity convention, which is nation's largest gathering of journalists of
color. Financial
Officer Diana Fuentes reported that NAHJ's "healthy" account
contained more than $311,000, and the 15 board members discussed the events
that the association will sponsor at the convention. This
year, 617 participants preregistered for the Unity conference under NAHJ,
according to Executive Director Anna Lopez. She expected about 100 more
members to register at the conference.
In 1994, 752 NAHJ members attended the Unity convention. NAHJ
has scheduled an awards dinner for Thursday and later that evening will
co-host, along with AAJA, "The Gran Baile" dance and karaoke
party at the Westin. The NAHJ will host an auction Friday at the Westin,
followed by salsa night, organized by the local chapter. Three
of the eight workshops scheduled this week by NAHJ were cancelled due
to lack of funding. "Corporations
will say, 'You're tapping into us too much,' " said Joseph Torres,
NAHJ communications director. "Since this is such a large convention,
it makes it hard to find funding. Each group is trying to raise money." This
year, Unity's executive board secured funding for events that would benefit
all four associations. In 1994, each association held a miniconvention
within the convention and conducted its own fund-raising for those activities. NAHJ
will hold a news conference Wednesday to discuss the results of the fourth
"Network Brownout" report. The annual study will reveal that
just 1 percent of news stories aired last year on the three major networks
dealt with issues relating to the Hispanic community. At
the meeting, board members discussed whether next year's report should
include the cable networks. NAHJ President Nancy Baca recommended that
a volunteer research the proposal and the board hold a discussion at a
future meeting. The group also discussed a Ford Foundation grant providing management training for board members by the Support Center for Nonprofit Management. .
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