Contact: Eva Penar

evap@cct.org
312.616.8000 x 161

Foundations Create Local Reporting Initiative

For Low-Income Communities
The Chicago Community Trust Explores Development of an Advertising Network for
Online News

January 10, 2011, Chicago – The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community
foundation, announced the creation of a one-year, $247,000 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.
“High quality reporting and analysis is the lifeblood of civic life,” said Ngoan Le, vice president
of program for The Chicago Community Trust. “With so many important decisions affecting our
city, county and state in the coming year, it’s essential that citizens and policy-makers know
what’s at stake.“
As part of this Initiative, the Trust issued a request for proposals from nonprofits, for-profit
companies and individuals for Local Reporting Awards totaling $110,000. Some of the awards
will be for $2,000 each and others will be for $10,000.
Le said she hopes that “policy groups, community organizations, media outlets of all kinds and
individuals who care about these communities will be inspired by the Initiative to step up” with
proposals for new reporting projects.
The Initiative is part of the Trust’s Community News Matters program, launched in 2009 by an
initial grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to increase the flow of truthful,
accurate and insightful local news and information and help the region’s cutting edge
innovators develop new models for providing news and information. The Initiative is funded by
The Chicago Community Trust, Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation and the McCormick Foundation. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and Woods
Fund of Chicago provide funding for other Community News Matters activities.

All those interested in applying for an award through the Local Reporting Initiative
should attend a special information session January 19 from 10 a.m. to noon on the
second floor at 618 South Michigan Avenue. Proposals are due by noon February 21,
2011. Go to www.communitynewsmatters.org for a copy of the award application and
Request for Proposals. For additional information, contact vivian@cct.org.
The Community News Matters program also announced that it has commissioned a feasibility
study, to be completed by February 28, of the possibility of establishing an advertising network
to support Chicago’s media innovators.
“Finding ways to pay for the news and information citizens need is one of the critical challenges
of our age,” Le said. “Chicago is blessed with a wealth of new media innovators trying to
develop new models for the future. We are happy to enable them to explore whether, by
banding together, they might be able to generate additional financial support for their vital
work.”
The Local Reporting Initiative is a direct response to the findings of a 2010 Community News
Matters research report that found “all too often, people in the Chicago area don’t feel they
know enough about the region’s challenges,” said Clark Bell, the McCormick Foundation’s
Journalism Program Director. “Residents of low-income South Side and West Side
neighborhoods are especially concerned about the lack of news organizations covering relevant
issues in their communities.”

(The study, News That Matters: An Assessment of Chicago’s Information Landscape, will be
released this winter. See a preview of its findings here.)
The goals of the new Local Reporting Initiative are to:

Produce in 2011 a burst of impactful relevant coverage of, by, and for the project’s
target communities that sheds light on current and future decisions of city, county
and state governments;
Stimulate the emergence of sources and voices of coverage that can help fill the
information gap in these areas;
Develop new ways and channels to spread high-quality, civically relevant
information and build interest and engagement among citizens.
The target communities are low-income neighborhoods on the south and west sides of
Chicago, including Archer Heights, Armour Square, Auburn Gresham, Austin, Avalon
Park, Bridgeport, Brighton Park, Burnside, Chatham, Chicago Lawn, Douglas, East
Garfield Park, East Side, Englewood, Fuller Park, Gage Park, Grand Boulevard, Greater
Grand Crossing, Humboldt Park, Kenwood, Lower West Side, McKinley Park, New City,
North Lawndale, Oakland, Pullman, Riverdale, Roseland, South Chicago, South Deering,
South Lawndale, South Shore, Washington Heights, Washington Park, West Englewood,
West Garfield Park, West Pullman and Woodlawn.

The Initiative includes:

1. $110,000 in Local Reporting Awards to be awarded to individuals, nonprofits
and for-profit companies. Community Media Workshop and the Chicago Reporter
will jointly manage the awards program.
2. $35,000 to The Chicago Reporter for project administration and for an in-depth
reporting project. Experts from the Reporter will provide ongoing guidance, editing
and other assistance to award winners, as needed, to help them maximize the
quality of the reporting projects.
3. $35,000 to the Community Media Workshop for project administration and for
various activities to maximize dissemination of the work produced by award
winners, including a regular blog featuring reporting produced by the projects, by
CMW, the Reporter and other sources; active use of social networks; and
spearheading of other joint dissemination efforts with award winners.
4. $35,000 to Windy Citizen.com Inc. to develop a mobile application and scalable
widget system to enable WindyCitizen.com to better distribute and collect content
off-site.
5. $17,000 to Gapers Block Media LLC for original reporting on GapersBlock.com
about issues affecting the Initiative’s target communities.
6. $15,000 to Columbia College for advertising sales development for AustinTalks.org,
a website and newsletter covering the Austin neighborhood.
Regarding the advertising network feasibility study, Joe Michaud, owner of Local
Interactive Strategies LLC of Cumberland, Maine, has been commissioned to assess the
feasibility of forming an ad network of Chicago area news and information sites.
He will interview local site operators, advertisers, potential ad sales partners and
operators of other networks and evaluate likely revenue and expenses, sales
approaches, technology and other resources needed and the capacity of likely
participant sites to support and use a network.
An online news pioneer, innovator and consultant on interactive products and sales,
Michaud developed and launched MaineToday.com. He is a former president of the New
England New Media Association.
About The Chicago Community Trust
For 95 years, The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, has connected
the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to organizations working to
improve metropolitan Chicago. In 2010, the Trust, together with its donors, granted more than
$100 million to nonprofit organizations: developing new audiences to sustain Chicago’s vibrant
arts organizations, protecting the human success safety net for those hardest hit by the
recession, stemming the devastating effects of foreclosures on our communities, elevating
teaching to meet world class standards; and improving conditions for healthy and active
lifestyles. To learn more, please visit the Trust online at www.cct.org.
The Community News Matters program is part of the Knight Community Information
Challenge, a five-year, $24 million effort to help community 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 challenge is premised
on the belief that in a democracy, information is essential for a community to function
properly and that community foundations are logical partners for meeting community
information needs.

About the Community Media Workshop

Since 1989 Community Media Workshop has worked to diversify the voices in news
and public debates by providing a unique mix of communications coaching for
grassroots, arts and other nonprofit organizations and sourcing grassroots and
community news for journalists. Connecting the community with media, the Workshop
promotes news that matters.

About The Chicago Reporter

The Chicago Reporter's investigations engage leaders and concerned citizens in critical issues –
all with a unique focus on race and poverty. The bimonthly print and online newsmagazine
serves as an important watchdog of government and other institutions. Now in its 39th year, its
pioneering use of sophisticated data analysis, multimedia features and compelling personal
accounts continues to make an impact. Used by politicians and government officials, policy
makers, academics and concerned individuals nationwide, the Reporter still breaks news and
influences agendas.

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