News — September 15, 2022
The Yappie Selected for 2022 Google News Initiative and LION Startups Lab Program
The AAPI community-focused publication, along with 15 other independent news publishers, will receive training and funding to support financial sustainability and risk management.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Yappie has been selected to take part in the 2022 Google News Initiative (GNI) Startups Lab on Managing Money and Risk, the professional journalism association LION Publishers announced Wednesday.
The eight-week program includes coaching and funding to help independent news organizations work towards sustainability, specifically through the development of financial and risk mitigation plans. The Yappie was one of 16 publishers chosen for the cohort from nearly 100 applicants in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. View the full list here.
"We're delighted to welcome The Yappie to the 2022 GNI Startups Lab cohort on Managing Money and Risk," said Lisa Heyamoto, LION's Director of Teaching & Learning. "They're in a strong position to take advantage of the program and we're looking forward to working with the team."
“The Yappie is grateful for the opportunity to take part in this program, and we applaud the Google News Initiative and LION Publishers’ dedication to ensuring that community-focused nonprofit newsrooms like ours are sustainable,” said Andrew Huang, The Yappie’s co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “We’re also proud that The Yappie is now one of more than 400 LION members – and we share LION’s mission to provide equitable access to news and information.”
In July, LION Publishers and the Google News Initiative expanded the GNI Startups Lab program to include three Labs serving a total of 48 publishers, with the aim of bolstering their operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact.
Founded in 2019, The Yappie is a nonpartisan publication dedicated to tracking the policy news and activism affecting Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Wednesday’s announcement builds upon the outlet’s efforts to achieve long-term sustainability.
In February, The Yappie won the Student Ventures Division of the 2022 Next Challenge for Media & Journalism by the Glen Nelson Center, and was named a semi-finalist of the 2022 President’s Innovation Challenge hosted by the Harvard Innovation Labs.
The Solutions Journalism Network also selected The Yappie to be one of ten newsrooms participating in its “Advancing Democracy” initiative.
In May, the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) announced that The Yappie would become an AAJA-sponsored project eligible for grants, and the organization currently accepts tax-deductible contributions on The Yappie‘s behalf.
Last month, The Yappie emerged as a top ten finalist in the 2022 Gold Futures Challenge, a national philanthropic grant competition hosted by Asian American Futures and Gold House. The Yappie could secure up to $100,000 in funding to bolster its coverage of AAPI politics based on the results of a public vote at goldfutureschallenge.org/vote.
✍️ Since 2019, The Yappie has helped thousands of AAPIs get up to speed on the policy news and activism affecting our communities.
Now, we need your help to win $100,000 to ensure AAPI voices and issues are part of the national conversation. 👉 Please take a moment to vote for The Yappie at goldfutureschallenge.org/vote!
