Description

The MacArthur Foundation’s Local News Program aims to catalyze proven innovations and interventions that position local news as a driver of community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability. The program leverages grantmaking, impact investments, convenings, research sharing, communications, public policy engagement, and philanthropic leadership to support local news ecosystems.

Investment priorities focus on:

• Equity: Supporting newsrooms and messengers serving historically underserved communities, including talent pipelines and multilingual content.
• Engagement: Enhancing connections between local media and their audiences, including efforts to combat misinformation and support collaborations with universities and youth media.
• Infrastructure: Providing essential tools, training, capacity, and services to strengthen local news organizations and collaborative networks.
• Visibility: Increasing awareness and advocacy for local news as a public good through policy, research, and coalition-building.

Geographic priorities include the American South, Borderland communities, Appalachia, rural areas, and the Chicago area. The ultimate goal is to foster sustainable, trustworthy, and civically engaged local news environments, particularly in regions with high numbers of news deserts and low civic health scores.