NYC high schools expand journalism with city funding
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New York City high schools increased access to journalism courses during the 2025-26 school year, with 135 schools offering courses, an increase from approximately 90 the year before.
The NYC Youth Journalism Coalition spearheaded this growth through its “Journalism for All” initiative, receiving $280,000 from the City Council to support the program. Bronx City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, chair of the Education Committee, believes that journalism teaches students critical thinking and communication skills valuable beyond academics.
Students and teachers see high school journalism as a way to meet new state graduation requirements, which emphasize skills like effective communication and critical thinking. Madison James, a student at Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, explained to City Council members how reporting a story about class sizes helped her develop those skills and inspired her to consider a career in public policy.
The Youth Journalism Coalition focused on providing equitable access to journalism, and recent data shows a significant increase in participation among students with disabilities and English language learners. In the 2025-26 school year, nearly 1,140 students with disabilities and about 470 English language learners took journalism courses, representing increases of 101% and 107% respectively. The coalition partnered with CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism to develop curriculum and teacher training for schools lacking such programs.
The City Council funding will distribute $150,000 to the 30 schools involved in the Journalism for All pilot program, $90,000 to the office of Supervising Superintendent Alan Cheng, and $40,000 to The Bell, the coalition’s parent organization.
