Local News Program Strategy - MacArthur Foundation

Our Strategy

The Local News Program, in collaboration with Press Forward, seeks to catalyze proven innovations and interventions that center local news as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability. Launched in June 2023, the program operates through a time-limited investment through 2028, with a focus on four approaches: Equity, Engagement, Infrastructure, and Visibility.

Our grantmaking targets priority geographies—Chicago, the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Appalachia, and the American South—while remaining responsive to strategic opportunities nationwide.

Across these regions, we build ecosystem-level capacity by funding newsrooms, journalism support organizations, local intermediaries, and partners that fill gaps and complement existing investments, helping to create the conditions that lead to thriving local news ecosystems.

Grantmaking Approaches

Equity

Ensuring people in historically underserved communities benefit from accurate and trusted news reflecting their lived experience. Investments support local newsrooms, trusted messengers, talent pipelines, multilingual content development, and collaborations serving communities historically underserved by mainstream media.

Engagement

Strengthening ties between local media organizations and the communities they serve. Investments support newsrooms, trusted messengers, and training programs that experiment with content and distribution, combat mis- and disinformation, and build partnerships with universities and youth media organizations.

Infrastructure

Strengthening nascent and emerging local news ecosystems through essential tools, training, capacity, and services. Investments support collaborative networks among journalism support organizations, backbone organizations, funders, and newsrooms, and innovations that improve efficiencies and promote economies of scale.

Visibility

Creating the enabling environment for news and information through networks, policy, and public understanding of the sector. Investments support coalitions, advocacy organizations, university centers, and research efforts that advance awareness among decision makers and establish local news as a recognized public good.

A woman with brown hair standing on the sidewalk in front of a brick building with a vibrant mural painting writes in a notebook.

A Block Club Chicago reporter stands on a Chicago street taking notes. Photo courtesy of Alex Garcia/Block Club Chicago

Why We Support this Work

Among the many challenges facing American democracy—from low voter turnout and declining civic engagement to rising polarization and the spread of misinformation—one issue connects them all: the steady disappearance of local news.

The U.S. has lost nearly 40 percent of its newspapers since 2005, and today 50 million Americans have little or no access to local news. This decline has hit hardest in communities already underserved by mainstream media—where historic inequities in both news content and distribution have compounded the problem.

In these communities, a lack of trust in media has become the norm—shaped by decades of misrepresentation, exclusion, and coverage that rarely reflected the people it purported to serve. Residents are left without the accurate, relevant information that drives civic participation, community cohesion, and government accountability.

And yet, there is real reason for hope. Newsrooms across the country are reimagining local news in service of their communities—and MacArthur is committed to accelerating that transformation.

Illustrated infographic depicting strategies to foster strong local news ecosystems, highlighting equity, engagement, infrastructure, and visibility.

An illustration of the Local News Program's strategic approach. View accessible PDF ›
Download full strategic plan ›

Download full strategic plan

Expected Outcomes

Local News expects to demonstrate contributions to the following outcomes through our grantmaking:

Increased trust in local information providers, new conceptions of journalism’s role in community life, and stronger civic engagement among residents in priority geographies.

Sustainable, diverse newsroom models that deliver accurate, representative local news through an inclusive workforce and powerful collectives of information providers across local ecosystems.

Policy enabling local news as a public good, equitable policy implementation, and mobilized public and private investment to sustain the field long-term.

Funding Priorities

Local News funds newsrooms, journalism support organizations, local intermediaries, and partners across the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, Appalachia, the American South, and Chicago. We also fund national organizations, with the capacity to have clear and measurable impact in our priority geographies, and replicable models of strategic innovation—including trusted messenger networks, AI- and tech-enabled applications, new sustainability models, and collaborative approaches. We are not currently accepting unsolicited proposals.

While we are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time, we are always eager to hear new ideas and perspectives.

Evaluation for Learning

The Local News Program was approved by the MacArthur Board in June 2023, and its strategy was endorsed in December 2024. The program has engaged an Evaluation and Learning Partner to monitor our progress against expected outcomes. Findings and analyses from evaluation activities are posted publicly as they become available.

Local News Overview

Grant Guidelines