Help support laid-off L.A. Times journalists

The Los Angeles Times announced plans Friday to lay off 14 journalists, or about 6% of the newsroom's rank-and-file employees.

We expect that some colleagues losing their jobs will experience significant financial hardship. Some of the journalists on the layoff list have only been at The Times for a few years and won't receive much severance pay. Everyone will be entering a choppy journalism job market after three and a half years without a cost-of-living raise.

Your contributions will go directly to our colleagues who need help with their rent/mortgages, medical expenses and other bills.

I'm a reporter at The Times who will help disburse the funds. This fundraiser is being administrated independently from our local union, the Media Guild of the West, and its parent union, The NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America.

It's been a really tough year for The Times, and we're mourning the loss of cherished colleagues and their institutional knowledge of journalism and Southern California. We hope we can show them how much they matter. Thank you for your continued support.

In solidarity,

Laura