DECEMBER 26, 2025 GROUNDCOVER Journalism mentorship program The Journalism Mentorship Program for Groundcover News freelance writers is a program that will help make better news reporters through mentorship and workshops. We live in a time where there is a unique distinction between corporate media and independent media sources. We also live in a time where anyone at any given time could be involved in journalism by using their cell phone to capture something newsworthy, simply by recording a video. Most videos you see on news networks are videos sent in by ordinary everyday people. From January to May 2026, former local journalists Jud Branam, Laurie Lounsbury, Laurie Mayers, Linda Odette, Joe White and Dave Wilkins from The Ann Arbor News, Wall Street Journal, Ypsi Press, etc. will pair with Groundcover News freelance writers. Each mentor will teach a set of concepts through an assessment of work published to date and collaboration on new stories. Mentors will give feedback and suggestions on improving leads, adding voices and sources, writing tighter and more story-focused content. Each freelance writer will collaborate with a mentor on at least two story submissions to be published in Groundcover News. these application questions: I'm interested in the Journalism Mentorship Program because I would like to learn more about overall journalism, especially from experienced newspaper journalists. From this mentorship I want to learn MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 There will be four main workshop meetings once each month, Jan. to May: Basic interview workshop in January, AP stylebook workshop in February, Story construction workshop in March, Research workshop in April, and in May, a final meeting and celebration! The freelance writers who want to be involved in the mentorship program must apply by answering three basic questions: 1. Why are you interested in participating in this program? 2. What specific skills do you hope to build on throughout the four-month program? 3. What is one barrier you predict to experience (yourself) while participating and how can we help you overcome it? I would like to share my answers to about investigative reporting and how to better conduct news interviews and transcribe the words of the interviewee. I love to write and report news stories and at the moment I can't say what barriers I might face, but I'm sure there will be some and I will face those barriers with the Journalism Mentorship Program to become a journalist. My overall thought on the Journalism Mentorship Program is that it will help Groundcover News freelance writers become better news reporters, and as a result, readers of Groundcover will be more informed on social and political issues that are not covered by other news publications, especially on a local level. better GROUNDCOVER NEWS 9 SUPPORT CALL FOR and understanding 24/7 mental health and substance use support 734-544-3050 LEARN MORE about programs funded by the community mental health and public safety preservation millage. PEER SUPPORT: Artie Tomlin, Valerie Bass, and Marti Schneider
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