Friend,

Is journalism dead? Hell, no!

We know this because five years ago this week, we launched News Voices on a wild premise: The idea that community organizing could create a new vision for local news — one that centered the voices and experiences of local residents.

Today, News Voices turns five and the future of our project is bright. And we’re excited to honor everyone who has made it possible.

That means neighbors and reporters. Journalism startups and nonprofit newsrooms. Dailies, weeklies, blogs, newsletters, phone trees and more. There are SO many people who roll up their sleeves every day to make sure their local communities get vital information.

We’re humbled by the work of our allies both inside newsrooms and in the streets fighting for justice.

Together, we’ve achieved so much. Here are just a few of the things we’ve collaborated on and are honoring on this special day:

• July 2015 — Launched News Voices: New Jersey.
• August 2017 — Launched News Voices: North Carolina.
• August 2018 — In response to a multi-year organizing campaign, New Jersey Gov. Murphy signed into law the Civic Info Bill, which in turn created the Civic Information Consortium, a first-of-its-kind publicly funded initiative to strengthen local news and civic engagement. Free Press Action conceived of the idea and led the campaign to pass this historic piece of legislation.
• February 2019 — Launched “Organizing for Neighborhood News” in Philadelphia as a collaboration with Germantown Info Hub, Kensington Voice, The People’s Education Center and WHYY, with the support of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. This six-month pilot project trained and mentored student journalists to work closely with fellow residents.
• May 2019 — Joined the Center for Cooperative Media and residents of Atlantic City to launch “Stories of Atlantic City,” a restorative-narrative project that produced 10 powerful videos amplifying narratives of strength and resiliency in this historic New Jersey town. This project has transitioned to community leadership and continues to thrive.
• May–June 2019 — Partnered with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in North Carolina to host a three-week series on the future of local journalism in the Queen City.
• August 2019 — Teamed up with the Charlotte Observer to screen #TeamPregnantDad, a documentary that highlights a Transgender man’s experiences in Charlotte.
• July 2019 — Collaborated with Newark’s WBGO to embed a local organizer in the station’s newsroom, with the goal of elevating underreported stories and strengthening the outlet’s relationships with community members; inaugural fellow Brit Harley is incredible.
• October 2019 — Partnered with the Colorado Media Project as well as community leaders, journalists, and residents for an evening spent outlining visions for local news in Boulder County.
• December 2019 — Launched the Police and Violence Narrative Project in Philadelphia alongside allies from the Media, Inequality & Change Center and Movement Alliance Project.
• May 2020 – Partnered with Movement for Black Lives to produce a reporting guide titled “Journalism for Black Lives,” packed with tips for decentering habits and institutions of white supremacy in newsgathering.
• June 2020 — Convened “Grassroots Movements for Local News,” an online conversation with community organizers and journalists who are creating inspiring local-news initiatives from scratch, featuring media-makers from Chicago, Eastern North Carolina, rural Colorado and California’s Central Valley.
• August 2020: Excited to launch News Voices: Colorado.

In between, we’ve held hundreds of community conversations, listened to and collaborated with thousands of people, and have begun to realize this ambitious vision that started five years ago.

Community organizing is slow work. Building trust with and among local residents takes time, patience and deep listening. But our approach is yielding rich results, and is creating a future where local journalists and communities work together to tell the important stories of our lives.

This is a moment to honor you and proclaim our hope for a more just and equitable media system — a media system we have never had but can see on the horizon.

The impossible has never felt so possible.

Will you help us keep News Voices going? Donate now to support the next five years of this transformational work.

And if you’re on social media, send us a tweet with your thoughts on this work. Be sure to include the hashtag #NewsVoices.

In gratitude and solidarity,

The News Voices team

Mike, Alicia, Diamond, Madeleine and Tauhid
freepress.net