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Community Renewal Society, Chicago Reporter

Chicago, Illinois

Grants

2019 (3 years 5 months)
$400,000

A project of the Community Renewal Society, the Chicago Reporter (the Reporter) is a nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative and explanatory reporting on issues of racial and economic inequality. In late 2018, Fernando Diaz became Editor and Publisher of the Reporter, and is articulating a new vision for the Reporter, which aims to fill the gaps in the local news media ecosystem, which has changed dramatically in recent years. This award supports the Reporter in developing multimedia collaborations, using data in its reporting, and launching a new initiative in partnership with Univision Chicago to create a bilingual news team that focuses on issues facing Latinx communities in Chicago and surrounding suburban communities. The intended outcomes of these activities are that Chicago communities will have greater access to news that has implications for their daily lives and support their civic participation as community members.  

2017 ( 3 months)
$10,500

The Reporter is an investigative reporting enterprise that is undergoing a process of becoming independent from the Community Renewal Society. Funded activities include a landscape review and interviews with other nonprofit newsrooms and meetings with experts and relevant stakeholders to determine the best path for The Reporter to sustain and grow its high impact investigative reporting.

2015 (3 years 10 months)
$500,000

The Community Renewal Society is the publisher of the Chicago Reporter (the Reporter), a non-profit investigative news organization founded in 1972 to report on social justice issues in Chicago and around the country. In 2013, Susan Smith Richardson, formerly the managing editor of the Texas Observer, became publisher and editor of the Reporter, which at that time had only two full-time reporters. In a short period of time, Richardson has re-established the Reporter as an authoritative voice for reporting on issues of race, poverty and income inequality and attracted national distribution and funding partners from The Marshall Project, Mother Jones and MSNBC to the Ford, Open Society and MacArthur foundations.  

2014 (2 years)
$150,000

The Community Renewal Society is the publisher of the Chicago Reporter, a non-profit investigative news organization founded in 1972 to focus on social justice issues in Chicago and around the country. The Reporter publishes a print magazine three times per year, and has recently focused on increasing its digital presence and begun publishing articles online on a weekly basis. This online shift is part of a strategy to help the Reporter’s investigations become digital resources in the ongoing national conversation about race, and social inequity, much of which unfolds online.

2010 (2 years)
$300,000

In support of "The Chicago Reporter's" coverage of the Plan for Transformation of public housing and organizational improvement (over two years).

2007 (2 years)
$150,000

In support of in-depth reporting on the resettlement of public housing families in Chicago neighborhoods (over two years).

2003 (3 years)
$225,000

In support of in-depth coverage of public housing and related affordable housing issues (over three years).

2002 (1 year)
$75,000

In support of general operations.

2001 (1 year)
$125,000

In support of general operations and for a feasibility study to determine the market for subscription growth (over two years).

1998 (2 years)
$175,000

To support publication and the development of a website on urban issues, and for technical assistance on marketing and fund development (over two years).

1996 (1 year)
$100,000

To support an investigative project on economic opportunities and challenges in the Chicago region.

1992 (1 year)
$41,600

To enhance the financial base during the anniversary years.

1992 (1 year)
$35,000

To strengthen the journalistic and institutional infrastructure.

1991 (1 year)
$20,000

To support a career-development program.