New York Community Media Alliance
Juana Ponce de Leon, Founder & Executive Director
New York Community Media Alliance (NYCMA) is a member-driven organization that promotes and advocates for the ethnic and community media in New York City and the metropolitan area. Immigrants represent 60% of the population, and 150 languages are spoken in public schools. New York’s immigrant and community media sector reaches a readership of more than 3.5 million through approximately 350 weekly and 26 foreign-language daily publications.
NYCMA’s programs encourage informed civic participation in low-income, working-class, immigrant and communities of color that are not well served by mainstream media, and where English is not the primary language. Their programs work to project news and analyses from these communities. By encouraging collaboration among journalists across ethnicities and neighborhoods, NYCMA has helped this media sector forge a broader public identity which has become increasingly more recognized by candidates and legislators. NYCMA also works closely with advocacy groups to help them disseminate their messages to targeted communities.