WLRN News was among more than a dozen newsrooms and media partnerships awarded a total of $760,000 in funding from Press Forward South Florida on Tuesday night during a reception at Miami Dade College’s Freedom Tower.
The investment in local news is designed to help local media outlets build more sustainable business operations and increase access to critical information for residents across Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties in what is the first round of Press Forward South Florida grants.
From digital start-ups to the region’s oldest Black-owned newspaper to nonprofit outlets serving both English- and Spanish-language audiences, the funding dollars will bolster a wide net of newsrooms that serve the region’s news ecosystem.
"Local news boosts civic engagement, it decreases polarization and is a powerful antidote to misinformation. And in times of crisis, it is a community lifeline,” said The Miami Foundation’s President and CEO Rebecca Fishman Lipsey at the Freedom Tower, once home to Miami’s first major daily, the Miami News.
“We need local news to not just survive but to thrive," she said.
The local initiative is fueled by the Community Foundation of Broward, Coral Gables Community Foundation, Key Biscayne Community Foundation, Ocean Reef Community Foundation and The Miami Foundation. Press Forward South Florida also receives support from from Knight Foundation, the national Press Forward initiative, and other donor partners.
Press Forward South Florida leaders and its partners also released the findings of a report — The State of South Florida Local News: Community Needs and Opportunities — to survey with residents as well as local news and media outlets to understand the state of news in South Florida.
The report found that the local media ecosystem is vibrant, but also fragmented, hard to navigate, and — like other communities across the country — increasingly strained by industry pressures. Research showed that whether residents find trusted, relevant information often depends on the language they speak, the neighborhood they live in and the digital access they have.
Here is a list of newsrooms given Newsroom Collaboration grants and their plans to use the funding:
WLRN, South Florida's NPR affiliate, will create a central audio production hub serving a collaborative journalism network that includes the Key Biscayne Independent, Florida Trib, UM Community News, Caplin News–FIU, Miami Times, Edible South Florida, and other partners. ($100,000).
Florida International University’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media will create the Caplin Initiative for Civic Journalism, a university-based support network for local newsrooms in partnership with The Biscayne Times, el Toque, Coconut Grove Spotlight, The Miami Times, and other news outlets. ($100,000).
The FIU Caplin News is a news partner with WLRN.
Hy-Lo News, an online outlet engaging Millennial and Gen Z audiences of color, and The Miami Times, a century-old Black-owned newspaper with deep community roots, will produce collaborative coverage of the voices and issues shaping Overtown, Liberty City, Miami Gardens, and Opa-locka. ($75,000). The Miami Times is a news partner with WLRN.
The Florida Trib, a statewide nonprofit news outlet, will increase coverage of the Florida Legislature’s impact on South Florida communities by creating data tools, providing training and collaborating with Coconut Grove Spotlight, WLRN Public Media and other local outlets. ($75,000).
The South Florida Sun Sentinel and the nonprofit Florida Bulldog will collaborate on investigative projects that examine the stability and structure of Broward's public health systems. (75,000)
BOMA (Black Owned Media Alliance), a Miami-based consortium of more than a dozen media outlets including, will use funds for strategic planning and staffing to jointly develop, distribute, and amplify news across South Florida. ($75,000).
Press Forward South Florida also announced "Newsroom Strength Grants" that can help improve business operations and long-term planning through access to LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers sustainability audits, a year of monthly LION coaching sessions, and a $20,000 stipend to implement audit recommendations.
See the complete list of "Newsroom Strength Grant" newsrooms here.
