Press Forward awards $2.7M in grants to coalitions of local stations
Press Forward, a nationwide coalition to fund local news, will grant groups of stations $2.7 million to bolster infrastructure and support local coverage.
The funder will divide the Public Media Resilience grants among Press Forward local chapters in Alaska, Central Appalachia, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Bloomington and Monroe counties in Indiana, according to a Dec. 10 news release.
The chapters will convene station-led coalitions in each area, which will develop two-year plans to strengthen infrastructure “with a focus on sustaining original, local news coverage and cultural content for rural and underserved communities most at risk of losing service,” the release said.
The grants, which aim to help organizations reduce costs and grow revenue, follow this year’s rescission of federal funding for public media by Congress, which has led to layoffs and terminated programs.
Each chapter will receive $385,000, said Melissa Milios Davis, Press Forward’s network manager, in an email to Current. Davis said that $350,000 of each grant is expected to be regranted to local partners, while the rest will fund administrative work for the chapters.
Stations receiving grants can work with like-minded newsrooms to collaborate and reach audiences across digital, print and broadcast platforms, Davis said. “At Press Forward, we strongly believe that this moment of crisis for public media has the potential to be a rebirth for local news — if we lead locally,” Davis wrote. “While top-down models that treat communities solely as content distribution points can erode public trust and local investment, local reporters, residents and expertise are valuable assets. Though program partnerships, affiliations, and even mergers can be hard and take time[,] news leaders with shared values can also commit to protect local flavor, originality and trust.”
Press Forward is also helping the chapters receive consulting from Public Media Co.
Formed in 2023, Press Forward is a $500 million initiative to fund local news. Funding rounds in October 2024 and July have included support for public media outlets.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a founding Press Forward funder, is seeding this month’s investment in stations. This month, the Public Media Bridge Fund, which is overseen by PMC, granted $26 million to stations, establishing another philanthropic lifeline for public media organizations.
“We’re committed to working in close coordination with the Public Media Bridge Fund, Native Public Media, and other national and local stakeholders, because we know that strengthening original, local news service for the long-term will require hard choices, selfless decisions, and systemic transformation,” Davis said in the news release.
