Join us for our inaugural Rural Revenue Transformation Workshop! This workshop is for news, information and community leaders who are located in and serve rural, low-income and geographically dispersed communities.

Dates: May 7 & 8 

Location: Reynolds Journalism Institute, Columbia Missouri

This experience is two days of hands-on sessions and collaborative activities to workshop solutions for news and information leaders in rural communities. We know that the revenue tactics that may work for newsrooms who serve large populations often do not work for those who serve small, low-income, geographically dispersed communities without access to broadband and other civic infrastructure services. We want to help those serving these communities create transformative collaborative solutions, learn from each other and build strategies that will work for their specific needs.

RJI will provide:

• A local hotel room for May 6-9, 2027
• A limited number of flight scholarships to help those most in need attend this workshop
• Breakfast and lunch each day of the workshop, plus a welcome reception with Mizzou faculty and students
• Support following the workshop to help you implement and try at least one idea we came up with together during the workshop

Our sessions will be built from your needs and input, but topics we have already identified from those we’ve talked with are:

• Attracting and retaining talent
• Revenue building methods specific to rural communities
• Philanthropy and grant opportunities
• Communicating news and information without broadband
• Mixed methods mapping for small communities

Questions? Email Kat Duncan Director of Innovation Duncank@rjionline.org

The RJI Innovation Team is accepting applications to collaborate with us to build programs, tools and resources for journalists in Spring 2027.

Have an idea that tackles a current need, gap or challenge in journalism? Want to share, collaborate and be a part of building something together? 

We want to work with you! Not sure if your idea is a good fit? Set up a meeting with Sriya.

As collaborators we share the work & the cost of the project, these are collaborations - not gifts or grants. 

Read more.

Students: Applications close November 8, 2026. Students will be notified by email about fellowship interviews by November 13, 2026. Interviews will be conducted before winter break.

Newsrooms/Orgs: Applications close November 8, 2026. Potential mentors will be contacted by RJI to follow up on the application and discuss project details prior to being matched with a student.

What is a 2027 RJI Student Innovation Fellowship? 

A Mizzou journalism student is placed with a news organization to work 30-40 hours per week in summer 2027. These fellowships are sponsored by RJI’s Palmer Innovation Endowment fund and the stipends are paid directly to the students.

These Fellowships are focused on projects that create, extend or build upon innovative work in each newsroom and transparently share that work with the industry by publishing articles through the Innovation in Focus series to help journalists learn from and emulate the innovative work.

Projects that are similar to past projects undertaken by Student Fellows and/or do not center innovation will be less likely to be picked for a student match. We are looking for newsrooms who want to undertake projects that will be useful to other newsrooms in the journalism industry to learn from.

What do the student fellows receive?

Each student fellow receives a minimum stipend of $8000 and will be expected to work for 30–40 hours a week for 12 weeks, starting mid-May and ending mid-August. Organizations are allowed (and encouraged!) to supplement this stipend with hourly pay.

Payments from RJI are made in three parts directly to the student. $1000 is paid prior to the Fellowship start to help with moving costs, then half the remaining stipend is paid after the beginning of the fellowship (within 30 days after the fellowship start) and the second half is paid after all the student’s RJI deliverables are met.

How are org/newsrooms chosen?

These fellowships are designed for each student to work with a newsroom or journalism organization on innovative projects of mutual interest. Partner organizations are chosen based on their application answers, proposed projects and the availability of a student fellow whose interests match the skillsets needed for those projects.

Which students are eligible to apply?

All current and soon to be recently graduated Missouri School of Journalism students are eligible and encouraged to apply. Students are chosen based on the application, interview and the newsroom applications we receive. We look to make strong matches between student interests and the innovative projects pitched by newsrooms.

Who supervises the student work?

The newsroom/org mentor will give the RJI Student Innovation Fellow regular feedback and provide guidance on projects at least 3 days a week whether in-person or remote. The mentor will also be the main point of contact with RJI on everything related to the fellowship, attend orientation/prep and all required zoom meetings.

RJI will meet with Student Fellows regularly prior to the fellowship start and then bi-weekly throughout the fellowship to make sure they are learning, supported and achieving their goals. 

What are students required to produce for RJI?

Each student’s work will be highlighted in RJI’s Innovation in Focus series and newsletter. These 2-3 articles will be produced by the student fellow over the course of their fellowship to share their innovative project work and help other newsrooms implement the same innovation. 

Read more

Newsrooms & orgs who are interested in hosting a RJI Student Innovation Fellow for summer 2027 should apply below.    

Fellowship Guidelines: 

• RJI pays the student fellows directly a stipend for their summer work but you are allowed (and encouraged!) to pay them an hourly wage in addition to their stipend if you are able to do so. 
• The student fellow must work on at least 2 innovative projects/initiatives over the course of the summer which will be transparently shared with the journalism industry through articles they write for RJI. Students will not be doing traditional journalism reporting (writing articles, copy editing, covering daily stories etc) 
• The RJI articles on their innovative projects will be published through our Innovation in Focus series on rjionline.org and in the IIF newsletter.
• This application should be filled out by the mentor who is going to work closely with the fellow by supervising their work. The mentor will be expected to take part in our fellowship program by attending the required mentor meetings, joining our shared slack space and communicating with RJI on their progress. 

 Read more details here.

RJI is hosting our annual symposium for a cohort of 30 community-centered journalists who want to come together to share and create thoughtful and actionable ways to serve our communities better. 

Dates: May 7 & 8, 2027

Location: Reynolds Journalism Institute, Columbia, Missouri

This experience is for those who want to take a couple days to thoughtfully brainstorm, build and collaborate together across newsrooms, roles, teams and organizations on ideas and solutions that can benefit us all.

This weekend will be considered off the record and conducted under Chatham House rules – you will be able to take anything away from it that will be helpful to your work and utilize it, but will be asked to not quote or reveal who it originated from unless they provide express permission.

This is an opportunity for us to take time to be critical and honest about the work we do, and how we can do it better in service to our communities.

Those accepted into this symposium will receive the following:

• A room at a local hotel for May 6-9, 2027 (3 nights)
• Breakfast & lunch each day of the symposium
• A roundup of all the examples, resources and takeaways shared in the sessions + collaborative results of your work together
• Check-ins (with RJI & your symposium cohort) 3 and 6 months after the symposium to provide ongoing support + share results, challenges and takeaways
• A stipend to try a new idea you learned or developed at the symposium in your newsroom

We want you to attend if:

• You work in a community-centered role, org and/or newsroom
• You’re willing to be honest, open and think critically about your work and your newsroom in this space
• You want to collaborate, work together and share results transparently
• You want to try new-to-you methods of serving your community
• You want to listen to others and learn from their lived experiences
• Your newsroom/org & you are willing to commit to trying something you are exposed to at this symposium, (resources, ideas, methods) and being transparent about results in a published piece at rjionline.org

The topics of the sessions and the resources built from them will be participant-led and inspired, but everything will happen with guidance and support from RJI to ensure that actionable resources, activities and goals are incorporated into the weekend. We will be there to prompt, mediate and make sure every voice in the room is heard and included.