Welcoming new team members to the American Journalism Project

Over the last year we’ve announced our first grants, started working closely with our grantees — and just last week introduced our first CEO, Sarabeth Berman, who is stepping into the big shoes that John Thornton created as our day-to-day leader for the last 14 months.

What’s exciting is the enthusiasm we see around local, nonprofit news. What’s somewhat daunting is the scale of the work, and the new urgency that the current national crisis has forced upon us.

At the same time, we’re buoyed by the response of the field and of philanthropy. 44 states have made journalism an essential service. Many community response funds include relief and support for local news organizations. National journalism funders and platforms like Facebook and Google have committed additional funding.

We’re launching into our next phase of work now and have a great team in place. In fact, we haven’t stopped to introduce them, and wanted to make sure we did.
These four new colleagues bring to AJP experience that closely aligns with our values and mission to grow and sustain nonprofit, local news organizations and build a nationwide movement for local news. Please join us in welcoming them!

Adina Berliant-McDougall is our new Development Associate. She joined AJP from City Limits, where as development manager she led initiatives to diversify revenue streams with a focus on sustainable reader revenue for local news in New York City. Prior to City Limits, Adina worked in New York City politics. She regularly serves on the Grants Advisory Committee at the New York Women’s Foundation and is based in New York.

Tyrell Byrd is our new Operations Associate, managing AJP’s day-to-day operations and remote work environment. He has more than six years of experience in finance, operations and information technology for both nonprofits and commercial businesses, most recently at WEConnect International. Tyrell is also a photographer. He graduated from Monroe College in 2013 with a Degree in Criminal Justice and Human Services and is based in Washington, D.C.

Loretta Chao joined our Success Team to work with startup nonprofit news organizations. She got her start in journalism at her hometown newspapers, Newsday and the New York Daily News, before covering technology and business for The Wall Street Journal for almost 12 years. During that time, she worked as a correspondent in Brazil and China. Most recently, Loretta was Director of Strategy & Operations at VICE Media, where she oversaw editorial strategy for the company’s first direct-to-consumer subscription product. Loretta is based in New York.

Patty Slutsky has more than 15 years of development experience in scaling nonprofits. She joins AJP as our Chief Development Officer. Previously, she led strategic partnerships at Catchafire, a platform and program that matches nonprofits with skilled volunteers, and was head of global development at Teach For All, where she grew a global fundraising operation that raised more than $130 million over 8 years. Patty is based in Philadelphia.