Call for Projects that Respond to Community-Based Calls for Action
Well-informed, engaged communities are vital to a well-functioning democracy and key to addressing many challenges facing our state – public education, economic inequality, public health and wellbeing, climate change, and more. Trustworthy, rigorous, nonpartisan local news is a fundamental component of healthy, thriving communities. Coloradans rely on local journalists and newsrooms to monitor, uncover and amplify important issues that hold the powerful to account, mobilize communities, advance causes, and inform strong policies. The best civic news also spotlights humanity among neighbors and builds a foundation for solutions.
Colorado Media Project (CMP)’s Informed Communities Fund supports local news outlets 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.
On November 3, 2021, CMP will open applications for the first round of a new open-call grant opportunity: Advancing Equity in Local News. The purpose is to build newsroom and community capacity to address inequities, and to harness a wider array of partners and community assets to create a healthier, more inclusive public square in Colorado.
The application deadline for the first round is 5 p.m. MT on December 1, 2021, and future grant cycles will open in Fall 2022 and 2023. This opportunity is made possible through support from The Colorado Trust, Democracy Fund, Gates Family Foundation and Rose Community Foundation. We expect a total of at least $250,000 to be available for grantees in 2022.
Advancing Equity in Local News grants will support projects that are informed by and responsive to the types of recommendations put forth by Black Voices and Latinx Voices working groups convened by Free Press, COLab and CMP in 2021, and Indigenous Voices and AAPI Voices working groups to be convened by COLab and CMP in partnership with local community groups and members in 2022.
The first round of Advancing Equity in Local News grants will support projects that address one or more of these three priorities:
Support internal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) capacity-building efforts in Colorado newsrooms. When Colorado newsrooms have inclusive workplace cultures they can successfully recruit, retain and promote reporters who represent the communities they serve, and are better equipped to cover communities with the respect, nuance, and completeness they deserve. The Colorado Trust is providing funding to support DEI capacity-building in Colorado newsrooms aimed at creating inclusive workplace cultures. Project examples: DEI training for newsroom leaders and reporters; content audits to examine trends in sourcing, framing and/or language; leadership development for journalists of color or representing diverse perspectives or abilities; and more.
Strengthen connections and build trust between Colorado newsrooms and the diverse communities they serve. Local newsrooms can be hubs for trusted civic news, but building and sustaining that trust requires strong, ongoing, two-way connections between newsrooms and the local community members they serve, with a focus on communities of color and others whose perspectives and stories have historically been left out of coverage. Funding will support newsrooms and community members in developing new projects and durable connections that help meet community needs and amplify diverse perspectives. Project examples: Community engagement or reporting projects co-designed by newsrooms and community groups; support for public accountability boards that provide ongoing and actionable community feedback to newsrooms; systemic approaches to connect newsrooms with expert sources, storytellers and collaborators from diverse communities; and more.
Support more diverse and inclusive civic news leadership, entrepreneurship, ownership and narratives. Colorado’s current local journalism workforce is overwhelmingly white and concentrated in the Front Range, which narrows the range of issues and voices amplified in our state. When Coloradans read, see and hear about concerns, struggles, triumphs and perspectives from neighbors and families not like their own, it can build common understanding and point to solutions. Funding will support projects that advance equity and shift narratives through projects developed by and for communities of color, rural communities, and other historically marginalized groups. Project examples: capacity-building that builds media leadership, entrepreneurship, storytelling or reporting skills among journalists, content creators and residents of color, low-income residents, or those from rural or other underserved communities; support for media ownership transitions, innovations or growth that significantly impact communities of color, rural or other underserved communities; editorial projects led by and for those whose stories are not being told; and more.
With these priorities in mind, we want to support ideas, new models and experiments that build trust and expand the tent for local news in tangible ways, and also yield lessons and best-practices for the field. These grants are not aimed at solving overall capacity or sustainability issues at Colorado’s media organizations, but authentic and intentional expansion of service to diverse audiences should be a core part of the project’s design. While proposals should emphasize one of the above themes or topics for exploration, we are equally interested in finding new strategies and tools to deliver content and engage diverse audiences.
Grant amounts will vary depending on the scope of the projects and the total number of outlets funded. The total grant amount per project for most projects will range between $5,000 and $25,000, with potential for more funding for projects that involve multiple partners and/or deliver more impact. Applicants will be asked to identify additional organizational resources (eg: staff time, material support from leadership, in-kind or financial resources from other sources or partners) that they plan to dedicate to the project, in addition to the requested grant funds. Organizations awarded funding in 2022 will be eligible to apply again in future open rounds for project extensions or new projects, though lessons learned may evolve the RFP focus in 2023 and 2024.
Who May Apply?
Colorado nonprofit news organizations and small, locally owned and operated for-profit or public benefit newsrooms are qualified to apply as lead applicants; for-profit newsrooms owned by corporations or investors may access project support by applying as part of a collaborative application with a qualified lead applicant
Nonprofit community organizations that are proposing to collaborate with a Colorado news or media organization
Projects initiated by freelance journalists, storytellers, or media entrepreneurs must apply under a fiscal sponsor, which is a nonprofit or for-profit news organization or nonprofit community organization
Applicants must be located in Colorado and/or projects must serve Colorado communities
Current CMP grantees are eligible to apply. Applicants must outline whether the proposed project relates to their other CMP-funded work
Application Process and Timeline
Application Opens: Weds. Nov. 3, 2021
Information Session: Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021 from Noon to 1 p.m. MT
Applications Due: Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 by 5 p.m. MT
Applicant Notifications: Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Grantee Welcome Meeting (Virtual): Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022, 2 to 3 p.m. MT
Disbursement of Grants: By January 14, 2022 (pending signed contracts)
Mid-Term Grantee Interviews with CMP: June 2022
Conference: Reporting on Inequities (Grantee Learning and Presentations): Fall 2022
Final Report Due to CMP: Dec. 1, 2022
All Funds Expended: By Dec. 31, 2022
Additional Notes
Applicants should base the amount requested on the scope of the project. While all applications need to be strong to be competitive, the larger the amount requested, the more competitive the application will need to be.
Proposing to utilize grants as matching funds to leverage other resources is encouraged.
Proposals that involve multiple outlets and/or community groups are encouraged, with a goal of creating efficiencies, leveraging strengths and expanding impact.
We recognize that COVID has impacted the way organizations are operating. We are particularly interested to support organizations that are finding ways to continue innovating during this time.
Grantees will be invited to participate in a learning cohort and to attend and/or share their learning at a Reporting on Inequities conference planned for Fall 2022.
About CMP’s Informed Communities Fund
Colorado Media Project’s Informed Communities Fund supports 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 serving communities of color and other marginalized groups.
CMP offered its first round of Informed Communities grants in early 2020, to address gaps in COVID-19 news reaching communities of color, immigrants, and other non-English speakers as the pandemic was at its height. In 2021 we offered grants to reach these same communities who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, to ensure they received accurate information about how to access the vaccine, and answers to their questions to address reluctance, from trusted community voices and local news sources.
Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Democracy Fund, Gates Family Foundation and Rose Community Foundation are contributors to CMP’s Informed Communities Fund.
Questions?
Please RSVP for our Nov. 11 information session about this opportunity here, or contact Melissa Milios Davis, Colorado Media Project/Gates Family Foundation, at mdavis@gatesfamilyfoundation.org.