NAHJ says it’s on track to meet goals outlined in 5-year strategic plan
During the 41st annual NAHJ national conference in Chicago this week, board President Dunia Elvir reaffirmed her commitment to executing the priorities outlined in a 5-year strategic plan that set benchmarks for the organization to hit by 2027.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has set ambitious goals to grow the organization, raise more money and provide training to its members over the next several years. Although Elvir said the plan was created by a previous board, she and her colleagues are committed to seeing it through.
The plan, which was approved in 2022, outlines four priorities for the organization: to advocate for equity, parity and accountability in newsrooms on behalf of Latino journalists; to grow NAHJ’s influence and increase representation of Latinos in media organizations and in leadership roles; to create training opportunities; and to build out the nonprofit’s infrastructure, capacity and fundraising.
“It is ongoing and we are working,” Elvir said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Julio César Chávez, NAHJ’s national vice president of broadcast, said the goals outlined in the plan are specific and have allowed the board to work toward achieving the vision of the document.
“But is also not limited in how we achieve those goals,” Chávez said at the press conference.
In her update to members on Wednesday, Elvir applauded the creation of new regional chapters, noted the new NAHJ Cares initiative that promotes health and wellness to journalists and highlighted the work of the seven task forces that have formed around specific issues facing members. The task forces focus on: Afro-Latino issues, LGBTQ+ issues, visual journalism, sports journalism, meteorology and climate change, business journalism and investigative reporting.
NAHJ’s Business Task Force, for instance, led a webinar in the fall on how to negotiate for higher pay and has helped advise members on facing challenges of pay equity in the industry.
Elvir’s message noted that NAHJ has “facilitated the formation” of six new student chapters — including at Loyola University in New Orleans, where the 2026 national conference is set to take place — and three professional chapters, the most recent of which formed in St. Louis.
Paul C. Fisher is a rising senior at Newberry College. Paul has a passion for storytelling and intends to cover policy. He wants to distill complex legislation into easy to digest information for his audience. Reach him at pcfisher16 [at] gmail [dot] com.
