Ken Davis is joined by WLS-AM reporter, John Dempsey, ABC 7 News reporter Paul Meincke, and Thom Clark, President, Community Media Workshop. The panel discusses merits of reducing the size of the Chicago City Council and the prospects for political change in the upcoming municipal election.

This program was produced by Chicago Access Network TV.

Chicago Newsroom on CAN TV21

Thom Clark, Workshop president, talks with journalist Ken Davis on his show “Chicago Newsroom” to discuss  the Workshop’s NEW News 2010 Report.

Listen to his commentary about recent Chicago Tribune setbacks on an October 7 edition of “Chicago Tonight”.

goodWorksconnect.org presents The Power of Stories

Anyone is welcome to join in these free online sessions hosted by goodWorksconnect.org and the Community Media Workshop. Simply register to become a member of goodWorksconnect.org, an online community space and virtual resource center for Illinois’ nonprofits.

The Power of Stories series

Wednesday, October 20, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Building a Communications Strategy

Online Discussion – facilitated by Thom Clark

Wednesday, October 27, 10:00 to 11:00 am, Know Your Message

Online Discussion – facilitated by Thom Clark

Tuesday, November 2, 10:00 to 11:15 am, Story Power

Webinar – facilitated by Sue O’Halloran

Powerful storytelling has the ability to captivate the media, potential funders and future members. Learn how to use the power of stories to move your target audiences to action through this online series. All sessions are FREE but you MUST participate in the online discussions to attend the Story Power Webinar. For more information, click here.

Nora Ferrell brings more than 10 years of communications experience in the public policy arena to the Community Media Workshop. Prior to joining the organization, she was the Communications Director & Editor at Minnesota 2020, a progressive think tank focused on education, transportation, economic development and health care. While at the think tank, Nora kept Minnesota 2020 in the news despite the ever-changing media landscape and helped the organization grow its social media and online presence through an active blog “Hindsight2020,” daily website stories, and Twitter and Facebook engagement.

Before joining Minnesota 2020 in November 2008, she was a Senior Account Executive at Valerie Denney Communications (VDC), a public interest public relations firm in Chicago. During her eight-year tenure at VDC, Nora oversaw communications work for the Healing Our Waters’ national campaign seeking federal funding to restore the Great Lakes. In March 2008 she managed the planning and implementation of a 900-person community development conference for LISC/Chicago’s New Communities Program.  Other clients included: the MacArthur Justice Center, a public interest law firm; the Crescent Ridge Project, one of Illinois’ first wind farms; the Illinois Poverty Summit; The Joyce Foundation and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

Nora also served as Vice President of the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing board and conducted media and message development trainings at the Workshop. In 2007, Nora’s media work around police torture in Chicago won the Publicity Club of Chicago’s Edwin J. Shaughnessy’s Quality of Life Award, one of the highest honors awarded by the Club each year.

Nora earned a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is happy to be back in Chicago with her husband and son.

Congrats to Gordon Mayer, who after five years at the Workshop recently let us know he will be moving on at the end of April to become Operations Director at National People’s Action.

Gordon’s contributions to the Workshop have been many. Although he joined us for our 16th year and hung around till we turned 21, Gordon was actually only the second person to work full-time on our communications coaching and training work in the history of the Workshop. His energy and focus on that work, as well as his contributions to our community journalism, advancement of new free and low-cost tools, and his leadership and belief in our mission, will be missed.

We’re also excited about the new opportunities this brings for the Workshop to add new energy to our team. Please note that people who are familiar with the Workshop are encouraged to apply for the position. If you think you could be a good, take a look at the job description here. (no phone calls, please!)