Boot camp sounds like a pretty tough ordeal. And I’m expecting that next week won’t be easy. But it’s probably not as harsh as you might be thinking.

I have been invited to be a fellow in the Knight Digital Media Center News Entrepreneur Boot Camp, which takes place May 16-21 in Los Angeles. It’s quite an honor, as only 20 people from across the country—across the world, I suppose—are chosen.

With cooperation from the Knight Foundation, the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business and its Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, I, along with 19 other journalists-turned-entrepreneurs, will try to figure out how to actually make a living and survive in the world of digital media.

One aspect that I’m already happy about is the fact that to have been chosen for this boot camp, representatives of the aforementioned organizations apparently believe that the little ol’ New River Voice here in Southwest Virginia has some potential and can perhaps be a model for other digital media ventures.

The days next week will be long. Typically the days start with breakfast at 7 a.m. and then lead into workshops, seminars, and discussion groups all day up through working dinners that end around 8:30 p.m. From there we will need to go back to our rooms and work daily on a final presentation for the end of the week.

I hope that upon my return to the NRV, I can initiate some ideas that will enhance newrivervoice.com and make it the essential community news organization that I think we all want it to be.

We want to increase our coverage in topics such as education, the environment, public health, and government. We want to greatly expand our ability to do investigative journalism. The question I will be asking next week in L.A. is one just asked in an article from the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). The article’s title is “The New Investigators: Nonprofits are breaking new ground. Can they sustain themselves?”

By moving to a nonprofit model, how can the New River Voice sustain itself? I believe it is vital for our area that a free and independent publication like ours exists. The question is, who will pay for it?

The previously referenced article quotes Nick Penniman, executive director and co-founder of The Huffington Post Investigative Fund. “When I look at the next ten years, investigative reporting is going to die in corporate settings,”Penniman said. “Nonprofits are the only place this reporting will survive and thrive over the long haul.”

The story goes on to say, “The overwhelming question faced by each organization is how to build multiple, stable sources of funding while maintaining journalistic integrity.” Yes, that is the overwhelming question we grapple with every day here at the Voice. And we’re still searching for answers. If you have ideas or suggestions, we’d love to hear them.

What we do know is that organizations such as ours are immensely important because budgets at mainstream media outlets have been slashed in recent years. According to the CJR story, “Rick Edmonds, media-business analyst at the Poynter Institute, figures the newspaper industry has cut $1.6 billion in annual reporting and editing capacity since 2005, or roughly 30 percent.”

That’s a lot of quality reporting and editing that has been lost in this country, and Southwest Virginia has not been immune to such reductions. And that’s why we believe so strongly that newrivervoice.com is necessary now more than ever. We hope that you agree, and that you’ll join us in our efforts to promote great journalism in the NRV.

Tim W. Jackson is not thrilled about upcoming cross-country flights but he is very excited about the knowledge that will be gained in L.A. next week.