Foundation for Local News
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New Jersey · 501(c)(3)

Local news is disappearing.We're building the next generation of journalists.

Most high schools don't have a journalism program. We help schools build one — curriculum, training, and a path into a real newsroom. Starting in New Jersey.

Bring our program to your schoolSupport the work

The state of local news in New Jersey

  • 5.1

    Working journalists per 100,000 residents — the lowest rate of any state in the country. The national figure is closer to nine.

    Source: Center for Cooperative Media

  • 80%

    Of New Jersey's newsroom jobs disappeared between 2005 and 2020 — the fourth-steepest decline in the United States.

    Source: Newsroom employment, 2005–2020

  • 65%

    Of New Jerseyans say they want more local news coverage, not less — within a point of each other across every party.

    Source: Rutgers–Eagleton poll

Why we exist

Local news is losing people on both sides at once: fewer reporters covering communities, and fewer readers in the habit of following them. The Foundation works on both.

Fewer reporters

Local accountability depends on someone being in the room — the council meeting, the budget hearing, the school board vote. Those jobs are disappearing faster in New Jersey than almost anywhere, and most high schools have no journalism program to replace them. The Foundation builds those programs and teaches the practice: reporting, verification, sourcing, and correction.

Fewer readers

Local news lost its audience along with its revenue. Most students have never had a local paper in the house. The Foundation teaches reporting in the formats students already use — video, audio, newsletters, social. The standards don't change with the format.

What we do

What we're building

Two programs that make reporters. One that makes reporting. One that keeps newsrooms standing.

Classroom to Newsroom Pipeline

We help schools build journalism programs, starting from wherever you already are. If you have a yearbook and want a newspaper, we'll help you get there. If you have a website and want to print a magazine, same. If you have nothing at all, that's a perfectly good place to begin.

We start where the need is greatest — New Jersey's most economically distressed districts, where the loss of local news has hit hardest.

What we bring

Funding. Access to grants, sponsors, and community partnerships to cover what the program costs, so it isn't a line item the district has to find.

Training. Workshops taught by working journalists, newsroom guidance, and editorial support for advisors.

Publishing. Real platforms to put student work in front of a real audience, not just a school hallway.

Curriculum. Built with you, around what your school already has.

Launched with a $130,000 investment from the New Jersey state budget.

High schools · Community colleges · Funding support · Equity first

Start a program at your school

Student workshops

Free, online, and open to any student. Each session is taught by a working journalist and ends with an exercise, so students leave having actually made something. Complete the full series and you earn a certificate.

Free · Online · Grades 9–12 and college · Certificate

Get notified about the next series

Statehouse News Bureau

Decisions made in Trenton land in every town in New Jersey. Most of them are never reported locally, because most newsrooms can't afford to staff a statehouse.

The Foundation is raising money to launch a dedicated bureau: reporters covering state government specifically for local impact, with every story distributed free to any outlet in the state that wants to run it. Smaller newsrooms get high-quality reporting they could never produce alone, and the coverage lives in an open archive for schools, libraries, and community groups.

In development · Free to all outlets · Statewide · Open archive

Talk to us about funding it

Fiscal sponsorship

We serve as fiscal sponsor for news organizations pursuing grant funding, so a small newsroom without 501(c)(3) status can still go after the money it needs. Grants are processed and paid out quickly, with the grant number on every check.

We charge a flat fee instead of a percentage of your grant. Ask us for the current schedule.

News organizations · Flat fee · No percentage taken

Ask about fiscal sponsorship

Our first workshop series

Journalism is a practice.

Teaching the craft in the formats students already use.

From the workshop: Building Your Brand

  • Building Your Brand

    You've been building a brand since your first username. This session is about doing it on purpose: finding the beat only you can cover, and building a presence that opens doors instead of closing them.

  • Short-form video

    How to take a real story and make it land in sixty seconds. Vertical, face-first, and reported — the difference between a video that travels and a video that lies.

  • Broadcast

    Standing up a story on camera. Writing for the ear, structuring a package, and holding your nerve when the red light comes on.

The next series is being scheduled now. Tell us where to reach you.

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Who we are

The Foundation for Local News rebuilds local journalism as essential civic infrastructure. We train the next generation of reporters, support the newsrooms still doing the work, and expand access to trustworthy local information. We begin in New Jersey.

We don't own a newsroom. We don't publish, and we don't take sides. That's what lets us work with every outlet in the state.

Get involved

Pick the one that fits.

Educators

Start a program

Tell us what your school already has and what you want to build. We'll come to you — and if we're not the right fit, we'll point you to who is.

Get in touch

Supporters

Fund the next reporter

Every dollar goes into programs that put students in front of a story. We're small, which means a gift here is visible almost immediately.

Donate

Newsrooms

Use us as your sponsor

If you're chasing a grant and don't have 501(c)(3) status, we can carry it for you at a flat fee.

Ask about sponsorship

For schools

Start a program at your school

Tell us where you are now. There's no wrong answer, including "we have nothing." We read every one of these.

For newsrooms

Ask about fiscal sponsorship

Tell us about the grant you're going after. If we're not the right fit, we'll say so quickly.

Do you have 501(c)(3) status?

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