In February 2024, Colorado became one of 17 local chapters in Press Forward, a nationwide campaign to strengthen our communities and democracy by revitalizing local news and information.
Colorado Media Project — which has served as a cross-sector catalyst, funder and advocate for Colorado’s local news ecosystem since 2018 — is now the “home” of Press Forward Colorado, connecting our state with the national campaign for thought partnership, research and learning, funding opportunities, capacity building, and engagement.
Five foundations have stepped forward to co-chair Press Forward Colorado: The Colorado Health Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, The Colorado Trust and Gill Foundation.
Throughout 2024, CMP will support a series of Press Forward learning opportunities, with a goal to introduce more funders, civic leaders, and community members to the people, projects and organizations that are supporting a healthier, more equitable, solutions-focused local news and information ecosystem for all Coloradans.
Funders can learn more about how — and why — to join the CMP/Press Forward Colorado funder table here.
In addition to encouraging direct grants to strong, local news organizations and innovative projects — CMP hosts a pooled fund at Rose Community Foundation in order to make open-call and invitation-only grants to newsrooms across Colorado, to address three priorities:
Advancing Equity in Local News
Local News Innovation and Sustainability
Spotlight Fund for Accountability Journalism
How can you get involved, as we continue to Press Forward?
FOR COLORADO NEWSROOMS
Join the Press Forward (national) and Colorado Media Project email lists to receive updates on funding and learning opportunities
Check out the Press Forward National Pooled Fund priorities and application, and create a JustFund profile for your newsroom on the national Press Forward site.
FOR COLORADO FUNDERS
Learn more about Colorado’s local news ecosystem — both the challenges and opportunities — in CMP’s 2023 white paper, “Reimagining the Public Square”
Learn more about Press Forward Colorado and how to join our funder table.
Book a 1:1 meeting with Melissa Milios Davis (Gates/CMP) or email Taryn Fort (CO Health) to set up a call so we can learn more about your priorities, and discuss pathways for you or your foundation to join us (to strategize, learn, and/or invest together)
Read about CMP’s impact and learning through 2021, our 2022-2024 Theory of Change, a an external evaluation of our 2022 grantmaking, and a five-year vision for a healthier local news ecosystem set by our partners at the 2023 CMP Summit
Check out the Press Forward Guide for Local Funders that offers approaches, case studies and resources for supporting local news in your community
Meet our innovative grantee partners, and learn more about their projects and aspirations
FOR NATIONAL FUNDERS & OTHER PRESS FORWARD LOCALS
To learn more about Colorado’s local news ecosystem and explore our recent priorities for investment, read CMP’s 2023 white paper, “Reimagining the Public Square”
Dive deeper to meet some of Colorado’s innovative newsrooms and ecosystem builders, and a five-year vision for a healthier local news ecosystem set by our partners at the 2023 CMP Summit
Book a 1:1 meeting with Melissa Milios Davis (Gates/CMP) or email Taryn Fort (CO Health) to discuss opportunities for investment in Colorado’s local news ecosystem
Read about what CMP and other Press Forward locals in New Jersey, North Carolina, New Mexico, Chicago and Oklahoma have learned from taking a ground-up, community listening approach to funding local news ecosystems in this 2023 Democracy Fund analysis
Explore and use these CMP resources as jumping off points for your own Press Forward Locals!
Colorado News Audience Survey: In 2018, 2019 and 2022 CMP contracted with an independent polling firm to conduct a statewide survey of Coloradans’ attitudes toward local news — what they want, who they trust, what they’ll pay for, and more
Colorado News Mapping Project: A first-of-its-kind visualization and database tracking traditional journalism (print, radio, tv, digital) and non-traditional (community-led, social media, etc.) news sources that communities use and trust
The Voices Initiative/Advancing Equity in Local News fund: To better understand the priorities of Colorado’s communities of color, CMP funded COLab to convene working groups of Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Coloradans and produce recommendations — which has catalyzed dozens of projects receiving nearly $1 million over three open-access grant cycles
Learning and Evaluation: In 2022 CMP funders established a Theory of Change to guide our activities and investments from our pooled fund; so far we’ve commissioned one external evaluation to help refine our strategies, with another coming in April 2024