The L.A. Local News Initiative is hiring a Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Communications to develop and cultivate community partnerships across Los Angeles, to be our chief storyteller in building our brand, to grow our community of supporters, raise awareness for the organization, and to forge strong partnerships with L.A. business community.

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The Vice President will report to the initiative’s CEO, and work with its leadership team to help tell the organization’s story. In the first year, you’ll play an integral role in getting the organization started as a member of the founding leadership team, contributing to cross-functional projects such as naming and branding the organization’s community newsrooms. You will work with the organization’s leadership to develop a strong narrative about the initiative’s value proposition and theory of change, that will be used in our external communications with funders, partners, and others. With support from the American Journalism Project, you will be joining the organization at the ground level and be part of a team that lays the foundation for its healthy growth and success.

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On an ongoing basis, you’ll work across program and business teams, including with the executive editor and chief development officer,  to surface examples of the initiative’s impact and work with newsrooms and executive leadership to share those stories with the organization’s key stakeholders, helping to build a network of business partners, and foster broad support for community-centered local news in L.A. You’ll identify opportunities to lead revenue-generating projects with corporate partners, such as sponsored content deals, event sponsorships, and other opportunities.

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This is a role for an entrepreneurial, collaborative, and creative leader who has a track-record of building relationships, spotting new business opportunities that advance organizational mission, and working cross-functionally to execute those opportunities. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the future of local news in L.A.

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Founded in 2024, the L.A. Local News Initiative is a coalition of organizations and philanthropists that have come together to support local news in L.A.. Guided by a community listening effort that included input from nearly 900 L.A. residents, this coalition represents a groundbreaking effort by philanthropy, media, and community organizations in L.A. to work together to fill information gaps, strengthen local democracy and make L.A. work better for Angelenos.

With over $17 million raised so far, the new initiative will take a multi-pronged ecosystem approach to ensure all L.A. communities have free access to the information they need to be more civically engaged, to thrive and to hold decision makers accountable:

• It is investing in expansion of a community-centered, hyperlocal model developed by Boyle Heights Beat, a trusted newsroom serving Boyle Heights and East L.A., so that more communities in L.A. can get quality, independent news relevant to their neighborhoods, produced by people who are rooted in their communities.
• It will facilitate investments to add reporting resources in the region through investments in regionwide beats and state government reporting from the perspective of Los Angeles at LAist and CalMatters, made available to ecosystem partners, and continue to rally philanthropy to advance local news as a mechanism for civic engagement
• It will foster collaboration among ecosystem partners, by coordinating content sharing, and providing shared resources that will help existing news outlets in L.A. do more reporting and bring more journalism to more people

These strategies were formed following extensive research and community listening done in partnership between local civic leaders and the American Journalism Project, which included input from nearly 900 Angelenos spanning a wide range of ages, genders, races, ethnicities, incomes, professions, and neighborhoods.

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• Free, Independent Local Press: We believe all Angelenos deserve to have a source of unbiased information that equips them to thrive in their daily lives. Our work will meet high journalism standards, be independent, non-partisan, and free to access. We’ll prioritize reaching as many Angelenos as possible, in the most effective ways possible.
• Community-first: We center the needs of local communities, with an ultimate goal to strengthen communities and make LA work better for Angelenos. Journalism should be focused on serving people most affected by the subject matter, and equipping them to take action.
• Equity & Inclusion: We need a representative, equitable, and inclusive local press. Newsrooms should be representative of the communities they cover, shift narratives to be centered on community perspectives, and provide pathways into newsgathering for residents.

Trust: We believe that building trust must be a core principle of our journalism. As a baseline, the journalism we support must be accurate, independent, unbiased, non-partisan, and a trusted source of shared facts by the communities we serve.

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Business development

• Develop high-potential business partnerships, including for content and event sponsorships, corporate gifts, and other opportunities within our mission, vision, and values; lead several major collaborative efforts per year and coordinate with program and development teams to execute them.
• Identify growth opportunities and conduct strategic analyses to evaluate them; work with business and program leadership to ensure opportunities are on mission, adhere to values, have strategic benefit, and are feasible to execute
• Develop and maintain a media kit that tells the story of our organization and our impact, to attract sponsors and other potential partners.
• Oversee the execution of sponsorship deals, ensuring that sponsorships uphold the independence of our newsrooms, uphold our mission, vision and values, and demonstrate our value to our sponsorship partners

External affairs

• Track all possible awards that LALNI may be eligible for, and shepherd the submission processes for priority opportunities.
• Work with the CEO and development, audience, and editorial leaders to tell the story of the L.A. Local News Initiative in a way that helps audiences, partners, potential funders, and other stakeholders understand its mission, strategy, and impact. Ensure all organizational messaging conveys the critical importance of local journalism for L.A. communities.
• Work with leadership to track wins and regularly share them to our community of supporters. Create an annual impact report and work with the leadership team to develop a strategy for putting it to use in external communications.
• Identify opportunities for LALNI to be featured in events, and to promote the organization online and in-person.
• Oversee LALNI’s participation in external events; ensure LALNI is present at strategic convenings, is properly represented in public spaces and that our messaging is consistent and clear.

Marketing and communications

• Lead the organization’s brand recognition efforts, including shepherding our branding process and overseeing the deployment of our visual identity.
• Lead our go-to-market strategy to launch our newsrooms in a way that effectively reaches our target audiences as well as our community of supporters.
• Produce promotional events that raise the profile of LALNI and our newsrooms in L.A.
• Own our organizational social media accounts and strategy (separate from our editorial social media strategy), including paid promotions, socializing organizational announcements, and more. Coordinate between development, editorial, and audience teams to execute successful donation campaigns.
• Lead development of an earned media strategy, including proactive development of relationships to help journalists, influencers, and others to understand what we do and why.
• Lead planning and execution of public announcements, including for our major journalism wins, key personnel changes, promotion of open roles, and other notable events that can help tell our story.
• Triage inbound media requests and make recommendations on executive availability for interviews; conduct communications and media training for staff who expect to be interviewed or who will have public speaking opportunities.
• If needed, assess, hire and manage agencies to support our marketing and communications activities.

‍REQUIREMENTS

• Experience in sales, marketing, business development, events, communications, or other cross-functional strategic roles; media experience preferred 
• Track record of building relationships, identifying growth opportunities, and achieving targets
• Ability to identify and evaluate new business opportunities
• Entrepreneurial mindset; self-motivated and results driven
• Experience managing a team and/or leading projects where people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and abilities feel they can do their best work
• A demonstrated commitment to equipping and organizing people toward collective action 
• Impeccable and inclusive project planning and prioritization skills
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to rally stakeholders and solve problems creatively and collaboratively
• Experience cultivating deep relationships, trust and solutions with a community (we know this can mean many things and want to hear how it manifests in your work)

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE HIRING PROCESS:

‍We hope to fill this role as soon as possible, though the hiring process can typically take from a few weeks to several months. We will do our best to communicate with you about timing expectations throughout the process. Candidates who advance to later rounds of this process can expect to be asked to complete a written assignment designed to help us understand your thinking and approach to the role, and you will be offered an optional prep session to ask any questions that will help you put your best foot forward in this process. We aim to truly get to know you, to help you fully understand the role you’re applying for.

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The salary range for this role is $130,000 - $150,000 with a generous benefits package.

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. The Los Angeles Local News Initiative is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. We encourage people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply.

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