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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced $48 million in grants to support pooled and aligned grantmaking in support of Press Forward, a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than $500 million dollars over the next five years.
Press Forward was launched by a coalition of donors earlier this year and is centered on four funding priorities:
Strengthening local newsrooms that have the trust of local communities. Improving infrastructure for local news production and dissemination. Closing longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice. Advancing policies that expand access to local news and information.
“Journalism, particularly local journalism, is the fabric of our democracy, the medium through which we strengthen communities, tell stories that build shared understanding, and hold power to account,” said MacArthur President John Palfrey. “Twenty percent of Americans live in ‘news deserts,’ areas without reliable coverage of local issues. Press Forward aims to reverse that trend and confront this lack of credible information that contributes to a growing divide in America, declining civic engagement, and distrust in its institutions.”
The largest of MacArthur’s initial grants, $32.5 million, will go to a national pooled fund for local news, housed at The Miami Foundation to provide a way for donors of all sizes and types to partner in this shared effort.
MacArthur has also launched a new grantmaking strategy to support local news in alignment with Press Forward to provide direct grants to news organizations and outlets, each of which are also being