Our Programs

Reach out

Do you have a question about one of our programs or would like to collaborate? Let us know!

Press On’s programs pay homage to the Southern traditions of storytelling that have long resisted the systems of extraction, exploitation, and colonization that have defined mainstream journalism.

By providing a diverse set of resources that include trainings and workshops, a reporting residency, grants, and opportunities for network-building, we aim to help journalists, storytellers, and media makers produce reporting that’s driven by communities that are building power to create transformative social change.

Level Up

The Level Up: Transformative Education for Journalists is an education program that works to equip journalists and community media makers with the analysis, skills, and tools they need to transform the field of journalism and expand the practice of Southern movement journalism.

  • All of our workshops and trainings are responsive to needs we have heard from movement journalists and journalists from marginalized communities and identities in the South.
  • Our curriculum is grounded in principles of popular education and Black liberation and is tailored to specific groups and audiences based on need.
  • Our workshops are also intersectional, focusing on racial and gender justice but not excluding discussions of disability justice, LGBTQ+ issues, and economic oppression in the field of journalism.
  • We focus on examining systems of power, historically and today, in order to take action toward change. 

Freedomways Reporting Residency

The Freedomways Reporting Residency is a program for journalists and storytellers in the U.S. South whose work serves to advance justice.

We named this program in homage to the journal “Freedomways,” which published the work of journalists, artists, thinkers, and organizers who were integral to the Black freedom movement from 1961 until 1985. Freedomways participants receive mentorship and technical support to produce a series of stories that are rooted in relationships with social movements and communities on the frontlines of struggle.

Southern Movement Media Fund

The Southern Movement Media Fund provides individual and collective grants to Southern media makers and journalists who practice movement journalism, providing them support to work alongside their communities, with each other, and movement partners to produce the news and information people need to make informed decisions about their lives.