Larry Parnass is the executive editor at The Republican newspaper in Springfield, MA, and recently served as investigations editor for The Berkshire Eagle. He is the former editor of the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton and is a multiple winner of the NENPA Publick Occurrences awards, including in 2022 for “Project Paycheck,” a series that examined changes in workplace culture.
Jill Harmacinski, is a staff reporter at The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Mass., and covers breaking news, crime and court issues, and local government. She writes a column called “Connections” which focuses on unsung heroes in the Merrimack Valley. Jill won a 2002 Publick Occurrences award for her coverage of the arrest of Marvin “Skip” McClendon Jr., who was charged on April 27, 2022, with the 1988 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Lawrence, Mass. Jill and named the 2022 Sevellon Brown Journalist of the Year.
Local Media Foundation is now accepting applications from Black-owned and -operated local media outlets to participate in the Knight x LMA BloomLab.
LMF will select eight additional local media outlets to join 18 publishers currently participating in the Knight x LMA BloomLab, a three-year, $3.2 million immersive experience for Black-owned local media outlets, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The application period is currently open. The deadline for the final submission of all applications will be 8 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, May 12.
The BloomLab includes three full-time, dedicated directors who work with the media outlets and other Local Media Association/Local Media Foundation staff members who serve as subject-matter experts in reader revenue, branded content, philanthropic funding and more. Selected media outlets will participate in the initiative through December 2024, focusing on technology upgrades, business transformation and shared learning opportunities. Participants will also qualify to receive technology stipends of $50,000.
David Karpf is an Associate Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, where he has taught since joining the department as an Assistant Professor in 2012. He previously spent two years as an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information. His research explores the internet’s impact on political associations — both in the formation of novel organizational structures seen in MoveOn and DailyKos, and also tracing implications for more traditional advocacy organizations. His first book, The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy was published in May 2012 by Oxford University Press. His second book, Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy was published in December 2016 by Oxford University Press.
Kristen Oliveri is the vice president of communications and marketing at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. She leads all aspects of the Foundation’s communications and marketing strategies including brand strategy and awareness, public relations and digital and print media.
Kristen is a Granite Stater, born, bred and schooled: She grew up in North Sutton, swimming and skating at Kezar Lake and learning to ski at King Ridge; she studied economics and political science at the University of New Hampshire’s Whittemore School of Business and Economics (now the Peter T. Paul School of Business and Economics) and earned a Master’s in Public Administration at UNH.
Kristen came to the Foundation in 2003 from the high-tech world — her interest spurred by a partnership between the Foundation and industry to increase the impact of charitable giving.
She is a member of the advisory committee for NH Gives, New Hampshire’s signature 24-hour giving event created by the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits, and a Leadership New Hampshire graduate, class of 2019.
Kristen lives in Manchester with her husband and daughter; most summer weekends find them packing up their trailer and camping gear and heading to the White Mountains or west to the Upper Valley.
Gabriela Lozada is a Report for America corps member. Her focus is on Latinx community with original reporting done in Spanish for ¿Qué hay de Nuevo NH?.
She has over 10 years of reporting experience and is an award-winning documentary filmmaker who specializes in covering social issues. Her documentary, “El Ultimo Hielero Del Chimborazo” (The Last Iceman of Chimborazo) and La Marea, are the films she is most proud of.
She holds an MFA in filmmaking from the New York Film Academy.
Will Katcher is a reporter for MassLive in the Pioneer Valley covering breaking news and the city of Northampton. He is a proud graduate of the University of Massachusett Amherst and a devout live music fan. You can reach him at wkatcher@masslive.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @will_katcher.
Craig Garnett has written a weekly editorial and column for the Uvalde Leader-News since 1982, winning several dozen first place awards from the Texas Press Association and the South Texas Press Association.
Garnett was born in Altus, Oklahoma, and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1975 with a BA in economics. He joined the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1977 and a year later moved to the Kansas City Star. He became the owner and publisher of the Leader-News in 1989. Garnett lives with his wife, Melissa, on a farm outside Uvalde.
Olivia Belanger is an award-winning journalist, currently working as the health solutions reporter for The Keene Sentinel’s Monadnock Region Health Reporting Lab. Before joining The Sentinel in 2019, she was the health, education, and nonprofit reporter for The Watertown Daily Times in Watertown, N.Y. A 2018 graduate of Keene State College, Olivia decided to move back to the area to tell the unique stories of the Monadnock Region.
