Working Class Heroes media
Donation protected
Working People Need Our Own Media
Working Class Heroes is an independent media collective by and for ordinary New Yorkers. For the past two years our team--made up almost entirely of young journalists of color--has been building a platform for working class and immigrant New Yorkers to put their stories out into the culture--first through our podcast and website and now also through our weekly radio show on WBAI 99.5FM.
And we’re not just trying to maintain what we’ve got. As a collective of journalists who are also community organizers and educators, we want to expand not only our radio show and podcast, produce written coverage of local movements, and grow into a working class media training organization that can provide training and paid work opportunities to young Black and Brown New Yorkers from marginalized communities so they can share their own stories.
At a time when corporate media consolidation has caused a drastic decline in local investigative reporting, and when young writers are expected to have rich parents so they can survive as they churn out free content, Working Class Heroes is building a vibrant alternative that can be a tool for ordinary New Yorkers. But we need your help.
We are aiming to raise $6,000. Some of that will reimburse the costs our members have incurred so far and the rest will be used expand our team and compensate existing and future members who continue this work. Below you can read more about the work we have released so far as well as a breakdown of how donations will be used and our plans for the future.
Thank you in advance for helping us build a media that belongs to all of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
Our first series , released on our podcast, was an investigation into the declining conditions of taxi drivers as rideshare companies like Uber flood and influence the market. Taxi Wars featured interviews with immigrant cab drivers, leading labor activists, and the brother of a driver who died by suicide as a result of crippling debt and uncertainty.
In March of 2020, we joined WBAI 99.5FM and released our second series , Coronavirus and Class War, on the impact of the pandemic on working class New Yorkers, from a Trader Joe’s supermarket essential worker to mutual aid activists producing PPE, and housing tenant activists seeking to stop evictions.
Our impact cannot be measured in numbers, but in the last 2 years:
*Have garnered 5,275 plays on Soundcloud alone.
*We have produced a 3 episode investigative series.
*Released 15 episodes covering a wide range of issues through interviews and news.
*8 out of 9 team members are POC.
*5 out of 9 team members are women.
*Have gained 15,000 followers across social media platforms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
We have spent over $2000 to this point for software and audio equipment. We are aiming to recover those costs and raise an additional $4000 to purchase more equipment as our team grows (pandemic conditions make it harder for us to share resources across the outer boroughs where we all live). We would also like to invest in some merchandise and promotional tools for expanded fundraising in the future that will continue to allow us to grow into the working class media institution that New York City deserves!
Working Class Heroes is an independent media collective by and for ordinary New Yorkers. For the past two years our team--made up almost entirely of young journalists of color--has been building a platform for working class and immigrant New Yorkers to put their stories out into the culture--first through our podcast and website and now also through our weekly radio show on WBAI 99.5FM.
And we’re not just trying to maintain what we’ve got. As a collective of journalists who are also community organizers and educators, we want to expand not only our radio show and podcast, produce written coverage of local movements, and grow into a working class media training organization that can provide training and paid work opportunities to young Black and Brown New Yorkers from marginalized communities so they can share their own stories.
At a time when corporate media consolidation has caused a drastic decline in local investigative reporting, and when young writers are expected to have rich parents so they can survive as they churn out free content, Working Class Heroes is building a vibrant alternative that can be a tool for ordinary New Yorkers. But we need your help.
We are aiming to raise $6,000. Some of that will reimburse the costs our members have incurred so far and the rest will be used expand our team and compensate existing and future members who continue this work. Below you can read more about the work we have released so far as well as a breakdown of how donations will be used and our plans for the future.
Thank you in advance for helping us build a media that belongs to all of us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHAT WE’VE DONE SO FAR
Our first series , released on our podcast, was an investigation into the declining conditions of taxi drivers as rideshare companies like Uber flood and influence the market. Taxi Wars featured interviews with immigrant cab drivers, leading labor activists, and the brother of a driver who died by suicide as a result of crippling debt and uncertainty.
In March of 2020, we joined WBAI 99.5FM and released our second series , Coronavirus and Class War, on the impact of the pandemic on working class New Yorkers, from a Trader Joe’s supermarket essential worker to mutual aid activists producing PPE, and housing tenant activists seeking to stop evictions.
Our impact cannot be measured in numbers, but in the last 2 years:
*Have garnered 5,275 plays on Soundcloud alone.
*We have produced a 3 episode investigative series.
*Released 15 episodes covering a wide range of issues through interviews and news.
*8 out of 9 team members are POC.
*5 out of 9 team members are women.
*Have gained 15,000 followers across social media platforms.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
We have spent over $2000 to this point for software and audio equipment. We are aiming to recover those costs and raise an additional $4000 to purchase more equipment as our team grows (pandemic conditions make it harder for us to share resources across the outer boroughs where we all live). We would also like to invest in some merchandise and promotional tools for expanded fundraising in the future that will continue to allow us to grow into the working class media institution that New York City deserves!
Organizer
Working Class
Organizer
Jackson Heights, NY
