We invest in faculty who create and grow local news partnerships.
The Center for Community News Faculty Champions program seeks to address the crisis facing local news by recognizing faculty leaders building innovative programs across the U.S.
The 33 “Champions” come from 21 different states. Fifteen of the “Champions” work at Minority Serving Institutions where student populations are majority non-white including Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions. Total funding of $54,000 is provided to the 33 "Champions."
Program Summaries
Luis C. Almeida, Claflin University, South Carolina
Increase coverage of city politics in Orangeburg county through a partnership with the local paper, the Times and Democrat.
Emilia Askari, University of Michigan, Michigan
Building a collaboration with Planet Detroit – a digital nonprofit – to publish stories that the students produce.
Doug Blackburn, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, Florida
Increase student reporting and access to student stories on the state legislature and state government through the development of mobile news gathering kits and distinct website and distribution channels.
Dorothy Bland, University of North Texas, Texas
Continue to diversify the Emerging Journalists Program with outreach to the Rio Grande Valley and North Texas area middle school levels for a program that provides in depth journalism training and regional placements for pre-college students.
Justin Blankenship, Auburn University, Alabama
Increase content for local news outlets –with a focus on underserved communities -- through stronger pipelines from classes to a digital news platform where stories are shared with media partners via creative commons licensing.
Lindita Camaj, University of Houston, Texas
Engage journalism students to report data-driven stories for local audiences in the Houston Metro area in a collaboration with Community Impact Newspapers and Rice University.
Madison Cook, West Virginia University, West Virginia
Build collaborations between West Virginia University student journalists and Black by God a statewide news outlets that tells stories from Black communities.
Michael J. Cripps, University of New England, Maine
Launch sustainable reporting partnerships with local news outlets to support community news production, regularize existing internship opportunities and broaden coverage through also engaging student media.
Laura Cullen Glasscock, Kentucky State University, Kentucky
Create a local news bureau staffed by students to increase availability of student reported community stories.
Gregory Gondwe, California State University - San Bernardino, California
Increase student reporting on the Hispanic community, including coverage of new immigrants and their hopes and challenges, consulting with families and parents of the primarily hispanic student body and building a news sharing partnership with the San Bernardino Sun newspaper.
Melissa Greene-Blye, University of Kansas, Kansas
Support Good Morning Indian Country, a collaboration between students at Haskell Indian Nations University and KU journalism students – the only collegiate-level student-led Native news and information program in the nation.
Jena Heath, St. Edward's University, Texas
Expand student reporting and community engagement with a focus on access to voting in Texas, especially among young people.
Alva James-Johnson, Southern Adventist University, Tennessee
Expanding collaborative relationships with the Chattanooga Times Free Press and other news organizations and providing content for Black newspapers across the country.
Liefu Jiang, Chicago State University, Illinois
Start a student-oriented news group to report local community news in the South Side of Chicago with a focus on public affairs news and stories of underserved communities.
Caroline K. Kaltefleiter, State University of New York at Cortland, New York
Expand the production of radio programs/podcasts aimed at local audiences and aired on the student radio station including a public affairs show with local officials and student journalists.
Joseph Kasko, Winthrop University, South Carolina
Building a partnership between reporting students and local media in Rock Hill, SC.
Hans Meyer, Ohio University, Ohio
Build a collaborative sharing system with the Athens Independent – a community news newsletter and website – to enable Independent staff to easily integrate student work into local news reporting.
Caitlin O'Neil Amaral, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Partner with local media organizations to report on the emerging blue economy on the South Coast of Massachusetts
Bob Page, Queens University, North Carolina
Increase the number of students producing community news content for the Charlotte area through the Queens University News Service with content published in Spanish language and English.
Novia Pagone, Governors State University, Illinois
Builds a local news consortium and deeper student reporting report on policing and use of force data from the region surrounding the university.
Toby Rosenthal, Stockton University, New Jersey
Increase student reported content through the Community Reporting Innovation Lab (CRIL) and a partnerships with the local daily publication, The Press of Atlantic City.
Lara Salahi, Endicott College, Massachusetts
Restructuring the current news-academic partnership to operate as a news service that serves multiple cities and towns and partners --both startups and what is left of larger companies like Gannett on the north shore.
Katerina Spasovska, Western Carolina University, North Carolina
Expanding collaborations with the local weekly newspaper, The Sylva Herald developing in-depth reporting on local issues in a community in western North Carolina.
David Squires, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, North Carolina
Increase the publications of student stories in local news platforms through advanced reporting and other content creation courses, with a particular focus on the hard hit local daily, the Greensboro News & Record.
Charles Strouse, Florida International University, Florida
Collaborate with the Black owned press, the Miami Times/Biscayne Times to increase student stories and produce special supplements and editions.
Nick Taylor, Northwestern State University, Louisiana
Increase visibility of student reporting programs and grow student coverage through the use of branding materials.
Jason Torreano, Bloomfield College, New Jersey
Build a partnership between Bloomfield College students and Public Square Amplified, based in Newark, NJ, to increase content for the community and build student skills and confidence.
Demi Washington, Lane College, Tennessee
Start a statehouse reporting project “Lane at Capitol Hill” in the capitol city of Nashville.
Stephenson Waters, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana
Increase community reported multi-media stories available to local media outlets through the creation of mobile journalism kits.
Chad Whittle, Georgia College & State University, Georgia
Produce a daily radio news and longform broadcasts covering local news and community happenings, in collaboration with WGUR 95.3 FM, the Baldwin Bulletin, a local newspaper, and other Smith Communication newspaper websites.
Joanne Williams, Olivet College, Michigan
Share student stories on a local news platforms in communities that lack regular news sources, and in consultation and cooperation with area residents.
Marcie Young Cancio, Salt Lake Community College
Creates a collaborative reporting project between four different Utah institutions, where students will work together and publish stories at amplifyutah.org and other local media partners.
Jerry Zremski, University of Maryland, Maryland
Grow the “Maryland Commons,” a statewide effort to collect state data, store and standardize it and populate it initially with county-level education spending for student reported stories and state journalists.