Local Reporting Initiative Grant Program
The Trust has announced the creation of a one-year local reporting initiative to stimulate a wave of new reporting and analysis of important issues affecting low-income communities on the south and west sides of Chicago.
The CCT Community News Matters program seeks proposals for a series of local reporting awards to fund original reporting and fact-based analysis in 2011. 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. The 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.
Eligible applicants are 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; and collaborations among organizations, companies, and/or individuals.
