We’re excited to announce another addition to our development team — at least temporarily.
Kailan Dixon, a graduate student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has joined us as our first intern. During a 10-week stint this summer, she’ll support the development team with our first summer campaign, co-design a donor survey and use her strong communication skills to help develop digital assets for a range of projects.
Dixon is one of four interns in the 2024 Knight Nonprofit News summer internship program, which operates through a partnership with the Institute of Nonprofit News. She graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a degree in journalism, mass communication and public relations. She’s pursuing a master’s in strategic communication.
“My goals at MLK50 are to learn and grow as a professional in the nonprofit sector, support the editorial team in their fieldwork of bringing economic justice to the frontline of the Memphis community, as well as walk away from this summer knowing I have truly, tangibly supported and contributed to a nonprofit that cares for the community it’s based in,” Dixon said.
Dixon has other work experience. She previously served at the Black Child Development Center of Greensboro — a nonprofit centered around helping underserved and underrepresented populations achieve academic success — and as a social media and public relations intern at Empower Onyx, which showcases Black women in athletics.
She sees similarities between Memphis and her hometown, Goldsboro, North Carolina, a small majority-Black city about 70 miles outside Raleigh. “I have had first-hand experience witnessing the issues that plague the Memphis community on a smaller scale,” she said. “In Goldsboro, the likelihood of one falling victim to a violent crime is currently one in 16. The lack of information and resources only furthers this problem.
“MLK50 felt right for me because it directly addresses the issues that affect the Memphis community, offering truth and insight into the causes as well — something the Memphis community and communities like it need ever so desperately to start working towards a better future.”
This story is brought to you byMLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit newsroom focused on poverty, power and policy in Memphis. Support independent journalism by making a tax-deductible donation today. MLK50 is also supported by these generous donors.