About

Toonari Post is a Social Enterprise which provides aspiring journalists & professionals (known as Toonarians) an opportunity to network, train and develop their careers by receiving hands-on training. We provide a diverse, multi-cultural environment for our Toonarians to flourish.

The Toonarians strive to be the leading force in providing informative and critical online news and entertainment information and raise debate and interest in global causes, including environmental and human rights issues.

To date, Toonari has grown to over 900 young professionals across 140 countries and has seen Toonarians go on to launch their careers with local newspapers and large, global corporations. We have also launched an on-site training center for new media and citizen journalism in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Toonari represents a new kind of news media enterprise in which we focus on the advancement of  professionals around the world. Our idea is simple. By providing a network for aspiring professionals to further their education, train and network, we can ensure society will be furthered with a group of experienced, cultured leaders.

Our success allows us to donate time to philanthropic projects with the goal of helping to further our society. We provide pro bono work to individuals, non-profits, and small businesses when we can and train individuals from Placement Works, a non-profit that specializes in job placement for the disabled, Creative Clay and Project Stingray, a program at the University of South Florida that trains individuals with cognitive disabilities.

Future Goals

We have already reached one of our goals by opening The Toonari Post Center for New media & Citizen Journalism in St. Petersburg, Florida for the training and promotion of young people. At the center we have had young adults from Spain, Ecuador, El Salvador, and the United States come and intern or volunteer with us.

What we want next is a network of centers across the world that will train young people in responsible journalism while also preparing them for working in the areas of journalism, new media, and other related fields. These educational hubs and meeting facilities will focus not only on online media, digital journalism and international business but also on any possible skills that can be taught through a partially online environment from robotics to computer programming. These hubs would exist in the US as well as underdeveloped regions around the globe.

Our goal is to build the largest, international educational-network, which supports and celebrates intellectual curiosity, and active & ethical citizenship. Not only do we wish to provide these centers but eventually we would like to open a larger university-style campus where in the mornings students will take classes and in the afternoons work on projects for The Toonari Post and those businesses and individuals for whom we provide pro bono work. Because of the work these students will provide with little to no payment the education and training they receive would be completely free.

By living up to our goals, we will help people make informed decisions about our society and eventually make a better world tomorrow. We will also provide young people with the skills necessary to survive in the job market today, free of charge.