The Center for Sustainable Journalism (CSJ) at Kennesaw State University, publisher of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange and Youth Today, last week announced it received a $100,000 gift from The Harnisch Family Philanthropies to advance the center’s mission of covering youth issues.
Leonard Witt, executive director of the center, said the longtime support from Ruth Ann Harnisch, president of the Harnisch Foundation, and her husband William Harnisch, president and CEO of Peconic Partners, has been instrumental in the center’s growth over the years.
“We wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for Ruth Ann Harnisch and her vision of what we could be,” Witt said.
The grant, he continued, will allow the center to continue to provide a national forum for youth justice issues and publish “more high quality, ethically sound journalism.”
“The Center for Sustainable Journalism team has rapidly become the nation’s leading source of news and opinion about children who need help and are somewhere in the system,” Ruth Ann Harnisch said upon announcing the gift. “The center produces the most important journalism available for people who work with youth in education, criminal justice and social services, as well as for concerned parents and citizens.”
Harnisch continued: “This work is growing so fast that it requires more investment. That’s why we and so many other foundations are stepping up right now.”
In addition to grants from The Harnisch Family Philanthropies, over the last year, the center has also received funding and support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Tow Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.
