The Community News Matters program issued a request for proposals in January 2011 for a series of $2,000 and $10,000 local reporting awards to fund original reporting and fact-based analysis. The funded work will focus on how important issues facing the city, county and state are affecting or will affect residents of low-income neighborhoods on the south and west sides of Chicago.
This program is designed to add significant amounts of new information to the local news ecosystem. All proposals must involve original reporting or original data analysis, not just aggregation or opinion about news reported by others. Winning projects should provide coverage either for or about the target communities.
Who is Eligible
- News organizations or outlets with journalistic expertise (print, broadcast, cable or online, both traditional and emerging)
- Community organizations with expertise in the target communities
- Nonprofit organizations or policy groups with expertise in issues affecting these communities
- Individuals (from involved citizens, to freelancers and bloggers, to new-media entrepreneurs) who are passionate about these communities and have ideas about stories and issues that matter to them
- Collaborations among organizations, companies and/or individuals
Proposals were considered by an advisory committee and 31 projects were chosen from a total of 108 submissions. $110,000 will be awarded to fund these top-quality journalism efforts to make quality local news more available to residents of the city's south and west sides. Check out the full list of winners and project descriptions in the grant press release
Contact Us
Vivian Vahlberg
Project Director
