A coalition of 22 donors, led by the MacArthur Foundation, last year announced Press Forward, a national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years. Along with this initial commitment, the initiative aims to raise an additional half-billion dollars over the next five years.
The Chicago Community Trust and nine other partners established Press Forward Chicago as a local affiliate in November. The pooled fund, hosted by the Trust, launched with $10 million in local funding commitments.
The Driehaus Foundation is proud to join this coalition with a grant to support Press Forward Chicago.
"Chicago is fortunate to have a robust and diverse news ecosystem serving Chicagoans across the region. But many of these outlets are underfunded," says the Trust. "This support aims to help these outlets reduce costs, explore new revenue streams, adapt to a changing media landscape, and encourage collaborations in editorial and publishing across the city."
Press Forward aims to enhance local journalism at an unprecedented level—to re-center local news as a force for community cohesion, support new models and solutions that are ready to scale, and close longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice.
The grant to Press Forward Chicago adds to the Driehaus Foundation's longstanding commitment to local journalism through its Investigative Journalism for Government Accountability funding program. Last year, the Foundation awarded nearly $3 million in new journalism grants to organizations serving Chicago and Illinois communities.
Read more
- Press Forward Chicago (Chicago Community Trust)
- Press Forward Will Award More than $500 Million to Revitalize Local News (MacArthur Foundation)
