New Support for Community Listening, Public Engagement and/or Election-Related Events
Colorado newsrooms seeking to build connections and trust with local residents through in-person events can now apply for grants of up to $1,500 through CMP’s new Above the Noise Community Events fund.
In-person community events are a powerful tool for building trust between newsrooms and the communities they serve. Above the Noise grants can be used to cover organizing and hosting costs for events that are designed to help newsrooms:
Engage with community members who aren’t already connected to their newsrooms
Deepen their understanding of what their community needs most from their newsrooms
Amplify the voices, perspectives and concerns of youth, communities of color, rural, low-income, and/or non-English-speaking communities
Improve elections coverage, in coordination with Voter Voices and local initiatives
Collaborate with other newsrooms, to serve communities together
CMP has seeded this fund with a generous contribution from the 35 Mile Foundation, as a part of our support for the statewide Above the Noise initiative (led by Rocky Mountain Public Media CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation and Colorado Press Association), and the Voter Voices initiative (led by the Colorado News Collaborative and Colorado Public Radio).
These partners can offer free resources to help you prepare for your event:
Rocky Mountain Public Media offers event planning best practices, event partnership opportunities, and free DEI training workshops; contact Carol Wood at carol@rmpbs.org for support or to sign up.
CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation offers free training workshops, 1:1 consultation, and facilitation support for newsrooms or community members interested in designing and hosting more productive, less polarized civic dialogue; contact Martín Carcasson at Martin.Carcasson@colostate.edu to learn more.
COLab and CPR’s state-wide Voter Voices Initiative will continue throughout this 2024 election season, with a number of entry points for interested local newsrooms and journalists; contact Tina Griego at tina@colabnews.co for more information.
The America Press Institute’s Better News has published a useful review of best practices, resources and examples of event-based community engagement around elections that can inspire your own event planning!
You can also host a documentary screening! Two important documentaries highlight the connections between healthy local news, and healthy civic dialogue - and are being used to bring communities together in conversation across the state.
Trusted Sources casts a critical spotlight on the local news crisis, highlighting the pervasive distrust undermining the credibility of news media, the surge of polarization, and the rampant spread of disinformation - alongside a call to action to rally behind local news (request a screening here). The Gates Family Foundation is generously underwriting the screening costs for Colorado Newsrooms wishing to host a screening of this documentary.
Undivide Us challenges the idea that citizens who disagree are not capable of civil conversation and demonstrates the truth that, even in our differences, the American experiment is still alive and well (request a screening here).
Above the Noise Community Event Fund Details
Goals: To support Colorado newsrooms in hosting in-person community engagement events that help journalists engage with and hear from new community members, amplify the needs and concerns of the communities they serve, facilitate community conversations and dialogue around important issues, and build trusted relationships among local newsrooms and community members.
Applicant Eligibility: All nonprofit and locally-owned for-profit Colorado newsrooms are eligible to apply. Selection priority will be given to newsrooms currently participating in Above the Noise, Public Deliberation, and Voter Voices initiatives and activities described above.
Event Eligibility: Eligible events must be scheduled for a date after the submission of the application, but may be scheduled for a date that precedes the completion of the contracting process and grant payment. (In other words, please do not apply for events you have already hosted, but your event may take place before the grant payment arrives).
Use of Funds: Grant funds may be used to cover event hard costs as well as staff costs. Translation, childcare, venue, food and even entertainment and screening fees are all allowable expenses that can make community events more accessible.
Timeline:
Application opens: Friday, August 9, 2024
Application deadline: Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis through the end of 2024. Grants will be awarded until funds have been depleted.
Applicants will be notified of acceptance/denial (via email): within two weeks of submitting application.
Grant funds will be released within three weeks of returning a signed grant contract.
Brief impact reports will be due to CMP within 45 days of the event date.
If you have any questions, please contact Sam Moody at sam@coloradomediaproject.com.