Guild-negotiated grant approved for training members in St. Paul, Duluth

First of its kind state grant for newsrooms, advertising

Julie Forster

24 Feb 2009

Minnesota Newspaper Guild

A state grant will give journalists and advertising staff at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Duluth News Tribune multimedia training to help refocus their content and sell advertising as newspapers change to address the reality of the Internet.

The University of Minnesota School of Journalism will receive a grant of $238,000 from the Job Skills Partnership Program to train employees at the two newspapers in new media.

Together, with in-kind donations in staff time from the papers and the journalism school, the project budget totals more than $700,000.

The effort grew out of contract negotiations in 2007 between the Newspaper Guild and management at the Pioneer Press. Language in the current contract directs the groups to jointly pursue the training grant. Training will focus on teaching new approaches and technological skills for telling stories, and for selling advertising to an audience and client base with an increasing array of other options.

Managers and front-line staff will receive the training, which will start with a skills assessment.

Paul Moe, executive director of the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Program, called the partnership a unique program, unlike anything the state has done before. Typically, these grants go to manufacturing firms that want to train their factory workers in lean manufacturing, a method to cut costs from production.

On Monday, the state board also approved a grant proposal from a company that makes crop sprayers and cotton-picking equipment.

Kathleen Hansen, director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota, said it’s unusual for the university to be involved in a proposal like this. Generally, the businesses that have received past grants partner with community and technical colleges.

One grant, awarded last year to Alexandria Technical College for $271,765, was to support training for Alexandria Extrusion Company employees to help the company be more efficient.

The grant program is part of the Department of Employment and Economic Development.