Youngstown Press Club Scholarship Fund Gets $2,500 Gift

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Former Mahoning Valley journalist and journalism educator Alyssa Lenhoff-Briggs and her husband, attorney Robert W. Briggs, recently donated $2,500 to the Youngstown Press Club Scholarship Fund.

The fund awards scholarships to college students living in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys and majoring in journalism or a related field. The fund, which awarded $2,000 to two students this year and will do the same next year, is supported by direct donations from individuals and the club’s corporate sponsors, club membership dues and proceeds from club events.

“Rob and I feel very fortunate to be able to support the valuable work of the Youngstown Press Club,” Lenhoff-Briggs said. “We both share a deep commitment to helping encourage the next generation of journalists to enter this critical profession.”

As projects editor at The Tribune Chronicle in Warren from 1990 to 1999, Lenhoff-Briggs directed news and investigative coverage and managed reporters and photographers. She also was the lead reporter on many investigative stories that resulted in awards and reforms, including changes in state and local laws.

From 2001 to 2015, Lenhoff-Briggs was a faculty member and director of the journalism program at Youngstown State University. Under her leadership, the program grew from two students to more than 80.

She also co-founded and directed The News Outlet, a statewide experiential learning initiative featuring student-reported stories in Ohio’s legacy media. Since 2016, she has been senior vice president of innovation at Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM.

Her husband is a partner, chairman emeritus and former chief executive officer of the Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs law firm in Cleveland. He is also a licensed Realtor in Ohio and Michigan and has served on the boards of dozens of nonprofit organizations.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.