CJ Sánchez urges DOE to refine journalism access tracking and support Journalism for All

Perfect timing.

Good afternoon.

My name is CJ Sanchez, and I have the honor of serving as the director of the New York City Youth Journalism Coalition.

I want to begin by thanking the City Council on the record for delivering on years of collaboration with our coalition.

We have moved in lockstep since our first J-Day in 2024 with Council Member Joseph, and with today's historic public investment in the Journalism for All initiative, it is profoundly heartening to see the follow-through and leadership of Chair Dinowitz and other council leadership.

With the rollout of Portrait of a Graduate, our city has a real opportunity to transform our public education system and confront the segregated access to high-quality schooling that divides our communities.

But to actually fulfill this vision, schools need practical methods to meet these new standards without undermining quality, burning out educators, or leaving out students and families trying to navigate a new system.

Journalism for All was built for this, and by supporting this initiative,

the council is backing a scalable framework for schools to begin implementing Portrait of a Graduate.

As we've discussed, for the DOE to successfully implement and scale these new graduation requirements, they must accurately track school offerings across the city.

Last year, this council passed Local Law 27 to track journalism access in our high schools, yet the reports released last year and earlier this month are incomplete.

It omits clubs and publications, it's missing specific course names, and it misidentifies which schools actually offer courses, which we know because we've reached out to every school that was reported to have a course in 2025.

So as we all look out toward the rollout of Portrait of a Graduate, we encourage the DOE to refine their reporting methodology, empowering middle schoolers and their families to make informed decisions about their high school applications, and allowing the city and partners like us to direct resources where they're needed.

This work requires dedicated leadership, and we trust Supervising Superintendent Alan Chang's expertise and commitment to meaningful student-centered future-focused learning.

We look forward to deeper collaboration with his team, because ultimately, this is about much more than just fulfilling graduation requirements.

I envision a city where every young person has the tools to think critically, communicate effectively, and actively participate in our democracy, a reality made possible by ensuring high-quality journalism education is accessible and thriving in every public high school.

Thank you for your time and for listening to the students today and every day.