Today the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced it would invest $300 million over five years to strengthen journalism, with a particular focus on local news and information.

Knight is calling on “individual and institutional funders to join in this opportunity to rebuild trust and foster sustainability in journalism, an essential democratic institution, starting on the local level.” At the Colorado Media Project, we applaud Knight’s commitment and investment, and join its call for community involvement to strengthen local news.

Knight’s first investments are in organizations with programs that can be scaled to different locations across the country, including American Journalism Project, Frontline PBS, the News Literacy Project, NewsMatch, ProPublica, Report for America, Reporters Committee for Press Freedom, and Solutions Journalism, (Read more about these and other related grants here.)

The Colorado Media Project has already supported the NewsMatch project, helping local news outlets raise nearly $50,000 on one day in 2018. We look forward to continuing to work with Knight to help strengthen local news and information that serves all Coloradans.