Black Voice News’ publisher wins ATHENA of Riverside Award

Paulette Brown-Hinds will be honored at May 25 luncheon

By STAFF REPORT | The Press-Enterprise

PUBLISHED: April 18, 2023 at 12:04 p.m. | UPDATED: April 18, 2023 at 2:06 p.m.

Paulette Brown-Hinds, publisher of the Black Voice News, will be honored during a May luncheon at the Mission Inn Hotel & Spa in downtown Riverside.

Brown-Hinds has won the 38th annual ATHENA of Riverside Award in recognition of her work in the news media and journalism.

The award is given by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce and its ATHENA Committee. She will be saluted at noon Thursday, May 25, at The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. Event proceeds will fund scholarships for young women at Riverside colleges and universities.

Brown-Hinds is “a practitioner and strategist, utilizing Black Media as a trusted source for community news and information,” a chamber of commerce news release states.

Brown-Hinds has worked more than 30 years in media, communications and community engagement, the release states. She has served as the lead Black media strategist for several campaigns. Also, she is turning the Black Voice News from a print publication into a digital platform with solutions-based data journalism, the release states.

She led the Mapping Black California geospatial community mapping initiative, which won $300,000 from the Google News Initiative Innovation Fund. Brown-Hinds is co-founder of Media In Color, which works with media professionals to “ensure California’s news media organizations in communities of color are self-sufficient civic actors  informing, empowering, and advancing the interests of their communities,” the release states.

Brown-Hinds also conducts Underground Railroad Study Tours and has served on several boards, including the American Press Institute, CalMatters and the California Press Foundation. In 2019, she became president of the California News Publishers Association and was the first African American elected to lead the group. She is also the first African American to chair the Inland Empire Community Foundation board.

Event information: Quirina Arana, 951-683-7100,  ext. 211, or qarana@riverside-chamber.com