Journalism + Design at The New School (J+D) is excited to announce the Community College Civic Info Challenge, a new initiative to grow creative local news and civic information projects in collaboration with community colleges across the South. The initiative is made possible through a generous grant from Lumina Foundation as part of Press Forward, a national movement to strengthen communities through better local news and information.
The Challenge builds upon the success of Community News Networks, J+D’s national effort to increase the flow of reliable local news and information in partnership with community colleges by creating pathways for more people to participate in their local news systems. Through an open call for proposals, J+D will challenge community colleges across the South to pitch an idea in response to our guiding question: “How might my campus equip more people to get and share reliable information about what’s happening in their communities?”
Winning college teams will receive an all-expenses-paid opportunity to travel to a two-day, in-person summit and workshop their project ideas with an interdisciplinary community of faculty, students, journalists, designers, thinkers, organizers, and artists who are invested in the future of local journalism, community colleges, and American democracy. Project teams also will have the chance to join a regional cohort of Southern community colleges, facilitated by J+D, that will receive direct support and expert guidance to turn their ideas into implementable solutions through a 12-to-18-month community journalism design process beginning in 2025-26.
“Journalism + Design has always been about bringing design practices to bear on tricky problems, like the future of local news,” said Heather Chaplin, founding director of Journalism + Design. “Community colleges are trusted organizations in their communities, often serving populations ignored by mainstream news. We believe that community colleges are part of any solution to the crisis in local news, and we are so pleased that Lumina recognizes our model’s potential to change the conversation.”
“Amid diminished local coverage by traditional newsrooms, student journalists have come to play an essential role in reporting news that empowers people to participate in their local communities,” said Kevin Corcoran, a strategy director at Lumina Foundation working on the Press Forward initiative. “This project is an effort to thoughtfully and collaboratively explore what community colleges, their instructors, and their students can do to equip people to understand and influence public decision-making.”
The Community College Civic Info Challenge will officially launch in spring 2025 with a call for proposals and virtual information sessions and workshops to support interested community college teams. To learn more, sign up for updates using the form below.
About Journalism + Design
Journalism + Design (J+D) is an undergraduate program and lab at The New School dedicated to nurturing a more resilient free press for the future. Our major initiative, Community News Networks, is rooted in fueling stronger local news ecosystems with community colleges by building pathways and power for more people – particularly those who have historically been excluded from legacy media systems – to participate in the production and distribution of news in their community. J+D has grown community journalism partnerships with more than eight community colleges across the country, with additional partners in New Mexico and the US South to come in 2025.
About Lumina Foundation
Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. We envision higher learning that is easy to navigate, delivers fair results, and meets the nation’s talent needs through a broad range of credentials. We work toward a system that prepares people for informed citizenship and success in a global economy.