For the journalism students in Andrew DeVigal’s “Engaged Journalism” course at the University of Oregon, the assignment is anything but academic. Their classroom is the small, rural communities of Oregon, and their challenge is profound: How can journalism do more than just report on a community? How can it be more responsive to its needs? How can it help a community thrive? Particularly, they are exploring how local journalism can contribute to a broader civic infrastructure that foste...| Civic Information Index
The North Carolina Local News Lab fund has been using the Civic Information Index since the summer of 2024 to ground their grant-making in data and reinforce a holistic, community-centered approach to supporting news and information needs in the state. We sat down with the fund’s director, Lizzy Hazeltine, to understand what this means in practice.| Civic Information Index
For Press Forward (PF) Central Appalachia, the challenge is clear: bringing new life to the news and information ecosystem across a vast, primarily rural region. To convince national funders to invest in an area historically overlooked, the team focused on building a powerful, data-driven case for support.| Civic Information Index
WASHINGTON, DC and PROVIDENCE, RI – Today marks the launch of the Civic Information Index, a groundbreaking new tool that maps and tracks the health of local information and civic health ecosystems across the United States. The initiative is co-led by The Listening Post Collective at Internews and the Information Futures Lab at Brown University, and supported by Press Forward. The Index provides a first-of-its-kind, county-level look at data on access to information, health, opportunity, eq...| Civic Information Index
At Press Forward, we are galvanizing a movement to reinvigorate local news nationwide. But our overarching goal is not to preserve journalism for journalism’s sake; it’s to strengthen communities.| Civic Information Index
