New Voices has announced its 2009 grantees. A project of American University’s J-Lab, New Voices funds community news experiments.

Some of this year’s grantees are universities collaborating with their surrounding communities. Wayne State University has hired professional journalists to edit submissions from students and Detroit citizens for GrossePointeToday.com, while The Annenberg School at USC will run a community news web site focusing on education, housing, and immigration. ‘ New Voices also tracks the progress of past experiments. Last year, grants funded such projects as the University of Kentucky’s online neighborhood newspaper and a digital newsletter about green businesses and jobs in Philadelphia.