October 15, 2024
Studies have long demonstrated that strong local journalism can encourage higher voter turnout, counter polarizing narratives, expose corruption, and lead to people feeling a strong…
Ideas
Explore insights, lessons, and resources from our work
Democracy Fund staff — alongside grantees, researchers, and other field experts — regularly develops resources and shares lessons on strengthening democracy. Here you will find guides, reports, and insights from our team and network.
February 21, 2024
Today Press Forward, the national movement investing more than $500 million to strengthen communities and local news, announced a new cohort of 11 Press Forward…
September 8, 2023
A national coalition of 20 funders announced an exciting new initiative on September 7th. Press Forward plans to invest more than $500 million into local…
January 19, 2022
In 2020, two dozen Atlanta journalists gathered to take a hard look at the state of local media in Atlanta. A lack of diversity and…
November 16, 2021
First the good news: Philanthropy is starting to respond to the demise of local journalism with the urgency it deserves. In the past few years,…
December 16, 2020
When you look back at how local news fared in 2020, you might be surprised by how hopeful I am for the future. Things have…
April 15, 2020
This post was co-authored by Christine Schmidt. Over the past month, 30 states have made journalism an essential service in their disaster declarations, putting local…
November 5, 2019
Asking Questions and Listening are the First Step By Teresa Gorman and Fiona Morgan How do people in your community get news and information about…
August 1, 2018
How can we help local news survive, transform, and thrive? This question will not be answered by one person, one organization, or one innovation. Instead,…
February 7, 2018
Josh Stearns co-authored this piece with Teresa Gorman. Local news is critical to a healthy democracy, and we believe that the future of local news…
April 26, 2017
This post was co-authored by Paul Waters The Democracy Fund’s Public Square program is dedicated to supporting vibrant and thriving media through increasing engaged journalism…