The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has announced $48 million in grants to boost pooled and aligned grantmaking in support of Press Forward.

Launched in September, Press Forward is a five-year, $500 million national funder coalition focused on supporting local news by strengthening local newsrooms that have the trust of their communities, improving infrastructure for local news production and dissemination, closing longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice, and advancing policies that expand access to local news and information.

One of the largest partners in the Press Forward coalition, MacArthur awarded $32.5 million in support of a national pooled fund for local news housed at the Miami Foundation that will provide a way for donors of all sizes and types to partner in this shared effort. Other grants will provide infrastructure support and shared services, along with direct support for eight local newsrooms. Recipients include 100 Days in Appalachia, Buffalo’s Fire, and Catchlight. MacArthur also launched a new grantmaking strategy to bolster local news in alignment with Press Forward and provide direct grants to news organizations and outlets, each of which is also being supported by at least one other Press Forward funding partner. 

“Journalism, particularly local journalism, is the fabric of our democracy, the medium through which we strengthen communities, tell stories that build shared understanding, and hold power to account,” said MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey. “Twenty percent of Americans live in ‘news deserts,’ areas without reliable coverage of local issues. Press Forward aims to reverse that trend and confront this lack of credible information that contributes to a growing divide in America, declining civic engagement, and distrust in its institutions.”

For a complete list of recipients, see the MacArthur Foundation website. 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/David De Lossy)