"The first step toward accountability lies in accountability."
In the spring of 2021, a group of Latinx Coloradans from across generations, regions and professions began meeting to tackle a series of questions: What would it take to ensure that local news coverage reflects, respects and meets the needs of the state’s Latinx communities? How can community members, journalists and funders create momentum for tangible, lasting changes in the ways that Colorado newsrooms cover Latinx communities — and how those newsrooms welcome and support Latinx journalists?
The Latinx Voices working group met for months, and its dedicated members have helped to shape four recommendations detailed in this new report, titled: “Think Big, Act Now.: A Call to Action from Latinx Coloradans for Equitable and Just Local News.” The facilitated discussions, power mapping and visioning took place as part of News Voices: Colorado — a joint project of Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), Free Press and Colorado Media Project.
The Latinx Voices working group’s recommendations — and those from community members and journalists participating in Black Voices working group — have informed and shaped a new grant opportunity from CMP’s Informed Communities Fund. Since 2020, the Fund has supported journalism outlets, community groups, and projects that put community listening and information needs at the center of the journalism process — with a special emphasis on better service to and coverage of communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-income rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached or represented.
Applications are due Dec. 1 for our Advancing Equity in Local News grant opportunity; a total of at least $250,000 is available to support projects that address one or more of the following priorities:
Support internal diversity, equity and inclusion capacity-building efforts in Colorado newsrooms;
Strengthen connections and build trust between Colorado newsrooms and the diverse communities they serve; and/or
Support more diverse and inclusive civic news leadership, entrepreneurship, ownership and narratives.
The total grant amount per project for most projects can range between $5,000 and $25,000, with potential for more funding for projects that involve multiple partners and/or deliver more impact. Additional rounds of funding will available in 2023 and 2024.
Need some inspiration? Check out these projects that have been developed in other states:
The North Carolina Local News Workshop developed the NC Media Equity Project, a learning cohort of leading North Carolina media organizations that represent and serve Black, Native American, Latino, or LGBTQ residents and other stakeholders who have lacked representation or agency in media.
New Jersey Advance Media & the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University have created an online database of diverse sources to “ensure that New Jersey local and statewide news coverage is more equitable and better reflects the communities we serve.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer commissioned Temple University to conduct a research study in 2019 to sample 3,000 articles, photos and videos.
The Urban Health Media program in the Baltimore area has trained dozens of high-school students from underresourced schools.
Oaklandside, a nonprofit newsroom in California, has a paid community-advisory group that reviews coverage and determines whether it meets the digital newsroom’s goals regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.