Seven Alaska News Organizations Receive Funding from Press Forward

The $700,000 being distributed among Alaska organizations is part of a $20 million grant package being parceled out to 205 newsrooms across the nation, at least one in every state. The recipients, most receiving $100,000 in general operating support, were selected from a total of 931 proposals from newsrooms with annual budgets of less than $1 million. Motivated by the extraordinary quality and number of proposals, Press Forward is funding twice as many news organizations as it initially anticipated through its first open call since it was established less than a year ago.

Earlier this year, Press Forward partnered with the Atwood Foundation to established Press Forward Alaska, the first statewide chapter in the philanthropic network. Guided by the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism, Press Forward Alaska is preparing to distribute its own batch of grants, separate from the national organization.

Meanwhile, under the umbrella of the Juneau Community Foundation, the Alaska News Coalition operationalizes donations by setting up shared reporting, technology expertise, and business services.

“The Press Forward grant will help immensely as the Coalition embarks on its initial efforts, working to bring news organizations together in a common effort and assisting newspapers as they move more deeply into the digital world,” Alaska News Coalition co-founder and Wrangell Sentinel publisher Larry Persily said in a story about the Press Forward funding on the Chilkat Valley News website.

“Over the last few years, we have been slowly raising awareness of the importance of language access and creating a bridge between Alaska’s Latino community and the broader state,” said Sol de Medianoche News publisher Lina Mariscal in the same Chilkat Valley News story. “This grant motivates us to continue moving forward. We are definitely ready to collaborate with the rest of the Alaskan grantees to continue strengthening the importance of local news and help understand what is at stake for us all.”

Funding for this open call comes from donors who contributed to Press Forward’s Pooled Fund, housed at The Miami Foundation. Press Forward engaged 114 advisors from a range of backgrounds to review applications. The scoring rubric favored newsrooms filling news gaps with strong, community-based leadership, a plan for sustainability and a track record of community listening and collaboration. The Press Forward staff narrowed the list further and, with input from the Press Forward Management Committee, made final decisions to ensure a balanced list for maximum impact across the country. The full list of grantees is available here.

Press Forward’s coalition members are committed to four funding priorities: strengthening local newsrooms, advancing public policy that expands access to local news, scaling the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive, and closing local coverage gaps.