Chicago – The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, today announced creation of an innovative new program, Community News Matters, to spur the growth of new sources of quality local news and information about the Chicago region.
“Good quality information is the lifeblood of any community. That’s why we’ve been a proud sponsor for almost 20 years of the Chicago Matters series, the longest running multimedia public-affairs series in the nation,” said Terry Mazany, president and chief executive officer of the Trust.
“Now, with traditional news media struggling, we seek to ensure that citizens in the Chicago metropolitan area have a robust flow of high-quality, relevant information available to them,” he said.
In November the Trust, in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Community Information Challenge, will award a series of Community News Matters grants and contracts to Chicago-area innovators for activities and projects that:
- Increase the flow of truthful, accurate and insightful local news and information in the region in new ways that engage residents, bring important issues to light, and enable people to work together to find solutions to area problems
- Help the region’s cutting-edge media innovators develop new forms, methods and models for providing this information that can be sustainable in the future.
The Trust expects to receive a wide range of proposals from a broad group of applicants. Notably, it is seeking proposals not only from nonprofit organizations but also from for-profit businesses and individuals. The application deadline is Sept. 15. For more information, go to www.cct.org/page10004548.cfm.
“Fortunately, Chicago is a hotbed of new media innovation, “said Ngoan Le, vice president of programs, who commissioned The New News: Journalism We Want and Need, a study assessing the state of Internet-based news in Chicago.
“The New News study found that almost 200 Internet-based news and information sites are already experimenting with new ways to deliver news and information,” said Le. “With this new program, we and the Knight Foundation seek to encourage the many talented people in our region who are trying to build a new future for news.”
While awards may be as large as $100,000, most will be in the range of $25,000 to $50,000. Special preference will be given to projects that increase the flow of relevant news and information to, from or about low-income or under-covered neighborhoods and communities and to projects that can be replicated or adapted for use elsewhere.
The New News report found that many online news sites, blogs or e-newsletters that serve the Chicago area have not yet filled the gap created by a decrease in the amount of local news coverage by traditional media. Nonprofit leaders are concerned about the lack of quality news coverage on local issues. Not only have the leaders interviewed seen a decrease in reporting on issues they care about, they worry that less of the information they see is vetted, edited and fact checked; that it’s getting harder to get a balanced diet of news and a sense of shared community; and that it has gotten harder to determine what’s important amidst a deluge of information.
The Community News Matters program is jointly funded by The Chicago Community Trust and Knight Foundation, as part of the Knight Community Information Challenge, a five-year, $24 million effort to help place-based foundations find creative ways to use new media and technology to keep residents informed and engaged. The Trust received one of the Challenge’s first matching grants. “The Knight Community Information Challenge is premised on the belief that in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function properly and that place-based foundations are logical partners for meeting community information needs,” said Trabian Shorters, vice president of Knight Foundation’s communities program.
The Chicago Community Trust has a longstanding commitment to supporting community information flow with its support of Chicago Matters, a multimedia public affairs series featuring the work of WTTW 11, Chicago Public Radio, the Chicago Public Library and The Chicago Reporter, a publication of the Community Renewal Society.
Proposals must be received by Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. Applicants should use the special Community News Matters proposal form, instead of going through the Trust’s normal grant procedures. This proposal form and the Community News Matters Request for Proposals are available at www.cct.org/page10004548.cfm.
To learn more about this initiative, attend an information session Aug. 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at 111 E. Wacker, 26th floor conference room. For additional questions, contact Community News Matters Project Director Vivian Vahlberg at [email protected].
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About The Chicago Community Trust
For 94 years, The Chicago Community Trust, the region’s community foundation, has connected the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to organizations working to improve metropolitan Chicago. In 2008, the Trust, together with its donors, granted more than $100 million to nonprofit organizations. From strengthening schools to assisting local art programs, from building health centers to helping lives affected by violence, the Trust continues to enhance our region. To learn more, please visit the Trust online at www.cct.org.