Starting off our new year with momentum
Although the calendar and the thermometer tell us that it’s summer, it’s a new year at NLP. To better align with the teaching and learning schedules of the educators and students we serve, NLP kicks off its new year in July — not with corks popping or a ball dropping, but with a staff retreat.
We came together last week in Washington for four days of collaboration and camaraderie that celebrated how far we have come and charted where we are going.
On the first day of the retreat, July 8, we welcomed four staff members, including three in newly created positions. They, along with seven others who joined NLP in the past year, are key to achieving our objective of bringing news literacy education to 3 million students annually by 2022.
We also recognized the contributions of Peter Adams, our senior vice president of education, who joined us a decade ago. Peter’s vision, commitment and expertise have been at the heart of what we do. He has been instrumental in the development, refinement and expansion of the Checkology® virtual classroom, the creation and success of our NewsLitCamp® professional development events, and the conception and execution of The Sift®, our weekly newsletter for educators and others interested in news literacy.
Whether veteran or newbie, every staff member at NLP is committed to the vision of embedding news literacy in the American education experience. In the next few months, we will unveil new tools and programs and resources that will help achieve that vision.
But for now, let me introduce you to the newest members of the NLP family:
Mike Webb, senior vice president of communications, joins NLP after serving as a vice president at the Washington public affairs firm BerlinRosen, where he led client teams on youth advocacy issues. Earlier in his career, Mike was the first communications professional hired by ProPublica, the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit news organization, and spent five years there as director and vice president of communications.
Henok Tedla, NLP’s first finance director, has more than a decade of experience with nonprofit organizations. A certified public accountant, he comes to NLP from the Global Business Travel Association, where he was director of accounting.
Alicia Trader is the educator services team’s first service support associate. She previously was the marketing department coordinator at Perma-Bound Books, one of the largest educational resource organizations in the country.
Sara Lewis is NLP’s first office manager, assisting the staff in our Washington headquarters. She has experience as a teacher and nonprofit professional working with students in under-resourced communities.
Photo: The News Literacy Project staff at our annual retreat dinner. Photo credit: Molly Hill Patten for the News Literacy Project.
