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Terry Parris
Engagement + Local News
Terry Parris Jr. is an experienced journalist and community engagement expert with a diverse background in digital media, audience engagement, and public service journalism. He served as the Director of Engagement at THE CITY NY from January 2019 to September 2021.2 In this role, he launched THE CITY and established its audience and engagement products, earning multiple awards for journalism, audience growth, and engagement efforts.2
Some key highlights of Terry Parris Jr.'s career include:
- Currently working as the Public Square Editor for Headway at The New York Times since October 2021.2
- Led the award-winning MISSING THEM collaborative journalism project, which aimed to document and share stories of COVID-related deaths in New York City.2
- Established The Open Newsroom, a community engagement initiative in collaboration with the Brooklyn Public Library.2
- Created the Civic Newsroom initiative to mobilize voters and provide tailored information about voting in their neighborhoods.2
- Previously worked as Deputy Editor at ProPublica, where he built and led an award-winning team of 12 members, expanding engagement projects and products.2
- Teaches as an adjunct professor in the social journalism program at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.1
- Was part of the team that was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting for ProPublica's Machine Bias project.1
Terry Parris Jr. holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Wayne State University in Detroit and is currently pursuing an MLIS at Pratt Institute, focusing on how public libraries can deepen their connection to the communities they serve.21
Highlights
Super fun time moderating this important discussion with amazing panelists Alicia Bell, Benjamin Toff and Ralph Thomassaint Joseph.
“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” Alicia said. Building core foundational relationships and trust is smooth: “Those relationships end up having echoes, and people vouch for you. Your organization doesn’t have to have a relationship with everyone. If the foundation is there. If it has integrity. If it has honor. People will vouch for you, and all of those things are easier.”
More from Celeste LeCompte:
All this focus on age, we wanted to have a different conversation. So we're asking how the youngest, newest voters are processing the election.
Working on this project with Caroline Bauman (Chalkbeat) and Kristen Anaïs Bayrakdarian (and basically every teen-centered civic and journalism organization in the city).
