Photo Credit: Alex Garcia, Block Club Chicago.

Press Forward Chicago

A pooled fund for journalism based at the Trust that seeks to create healthier communities through the support of strong and sustainable news and information ecosystems.

Application Open:
Education Journalism RFP

Chicago needs more education-focused reporters. With upcoming school board elections and recent changes to education funding, the timing is critical to increase education reporting, and to amplify that work to those who need it.

Together, Press Forward Chicago and its coalition of funders have raised $1.5 million to launch a three-year education journalism plan that will start in 2026 with an editorial collaboration led by Chalkbeat Chicago. This project will take place from June to November 2026, and will focus on the Chicago Board of Education election in November 2026, which will, for the first time, elect civilians in 21 districts across the city.

Media organizations are invited to apply for $10,000 to $40,000 in six-month grants for education journalism coverage in 2026. More details can be found in the RFP linked below. The deadline to apply is Friday, March 6, 2026 by 11:59 p.m. CT.

Application Guidance:

We will be holding a webinar with time for questions on Tuesday, February 17, 2026 from 2 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT. This webinar will be recorded and distributed to registrants, so please sign up even if you are unable to attend live. Register for the webinar.
We have prepared an application guide that will help you prepare for the application questions offline before submitting via GrantCentral.
We are available to meet one-on-one with prospective applicants. Please reach out to Taylor Moore at tmoore@cct.org to schedule a meeting.

View the Full RFP

The Moment

Press Forward Chicago, a pooled fund for journalism based at The Chicago Community Trust, seeks to create healthier communities through the support of strong and sustainable news and information ecosystems. Press Forward Chicago advances the public interest by strengthening access to trustworthy local information, supporting an informed community, and enhancing residents’ ability to participate meaningfully in civic and community decisions.

Press Forward also supports public benefit reporting that enhances government transparency and accountability, helping to lessen the burdens of government by facilitating public understanding of local governmental processes and decisions. We do this work through supporting nonprofit educational activities that inform the public, increase access to reliable information, and promote civic understanding through the production and dissemination of fact-based, non-partisan local news.

We have awarded more than $3 million in direct grants in our first two years, and we anticipate giving out more than $2.5 million in direct grants and shared services in 2026.

Available Now: Chicago Media Needs Assessment

Press Forward Chicago has just released the results of their survey of Chicago-area local media, conducted first quarter of 2025. The final report, “Chicago-area Local Media: Assessing the Need for Shared Services and Support,” is now available as a download below.

Approximately 70% of local media outlets responded to the survey, providing an in-depth review of where resources are needed. Press Forward Chicago has also conducted focus groups as a follow-up to the survey and will start to lean into shared service supports this fall.

Download the REport

Case for Support:
Press Forward Chicago

The Press Forward movement seeks to replicate and scale the things that are working in journalism right now, with an aim for local outlets to achieve long-term sustainability. Individual media outlets will benefit through direct funding and the support of shared services, trainings, and collaborations.

Our goal at Press Forward Chicago is to raise $20 million over five years. We have already raised more than two-thirds of that goal.

Download the Full PDF

For more information on how to support Press Forward Chicago, contact:

Adele Nandan
Director of Donor Engagement
anandan@cct.org

What is Press Forward Chicago?

Press Forward Chicago is a local affiliate of Press Forward—a national initiative led by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to raise unprecedented resources to revitalize local news and supercharge proven solutions to the local news and information crises.

The national initiative launched in September 2023 and has raised over $500 million.

Subscribe to the Newsletter

The Context

Around the country, community news funds are being established to provide ongoing support for local news outlets and to coordinate additional funding and newsroom collaboration.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust are raising funds to launch Press Forward Chicago, to offer philanthropic leaders, civic-minded individuals, and regional foundations the opportunity to pool their dollars to support a robust network of independent news outlets that are serving the information needs of Chicago’s diverse communities.

In addition to MacArthur and the Trust, Press Forward Chicago donors include the Amy Falls and Hartley Rogers Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, and the Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation.

The Opportunity: Chicago’s News Oasis

Dozens of independent media outlets serve the varied information needs and interests of Chicago’s diverse communities and neighborhoods. They range from storied alt-weeklies like Chicago Reader, to digital start-ups like Block Club Chicago, to hyperlocal outlets like Evanston Roundtable and Cicero Independiente. Many of these outlets belong to the Chicago Independent Media Alliance and together reach a majority of Chicago’s residents. These outlets serve the unique and urgent information needs of their audiences, work to hold power to account, and strive to provide a more nuanced and complete story about the city and its people.

While Chicagoans have a special connection to their legacy news sources, they are also turning to hyperlocal media. Philanthropy has an important role to play to ensure that relied-upon news outlets make a successful conversion to the digital age and that newer outlets can grow their audiences.

Investment Priorities

The goal of Press Forward Chicago is to help sustain a thriving local news ecosystem that serves the information needs of Chicago’s diverse residents. Core investment priorities include:

Funding essential activities that focus on the business of news to lower the cost of doing business and create new sources of revenue.
Supporting leadership success to nurture and level up news entrepreneurs, executives, and senior managers to operate newsrooms in a rapidly evolving environment.
Incentivizing editorial and publishing collaborations to promote better and fuller news coverage that identifies interconnections across the city and ensures audiences have access to stories from a range of sources and perspectives.

Intended Outcomes

For newsrooms, we are fostering stronger, economically stable organizations that can maximize available strategies and tools to serve the information needs of their communities. For Chicago, we are aiming for:

Every resident, regardless of where they live, to have access to multiple sources of reliable news and information.
Residents who will feel more empowered to participate in civic life.
Coverage of the region that is holistic, nuanced, and solutions-oriented.

Latest Updates

Press Release: Press Forward Chicago Awards $1.5 Million in New Local Media Grants

Press Release: Tracy Baim, Journalist and Dedicated Community News Advocate, to Lead Press Forward Chicago

Press Release: More Than $1.6 Million in Grants to 13 Local News Organizations

Press Release: Press Forward Chicago Launches with $10 Million in Commitments to Revitalize Local News

Crain’s Chicago Business: New Local News Initiative Gets $10M, Partly from Some of Chicago’s Biggest Foundations

Nieman Lab: To Turn $500 Million into $1 Billion, Press Forward Looks to the Local Level

Governance Plan