The Marshall Project has been awarded a grant from the American Journalism Project to support local reporting on criminal justice. This marks the first time the American Journalism Project has provided funding to help national organizations build local reporting networks.
The grant will be used by The Marshall Project to hire a Chief Strategy Officer to help develop a series of local news teams, a financial comptroller and fundraising consultants in local markets.
The American Journalism Project is a venture philanthropy dedicated to local news. The Marshall Project is part of a cohort that includes four other non-profit news organizations — Capital B, Chalkbeat, Indian Country Today and Open Campus — which will each be given new funding and strategic support to significantly grow their revenue and impact and expand their organizations into new local communities.
“To realize our vision of a country where every community has the information it needs will take investing in and testing promising new models, including these ambitious multi-local strategies,” Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project, said. “We are inspired by their leadership and approaches to bringing vital new resources into local news.”
The Marshall Project’s prize-winning national newsroom will support the development of local news infrastructure, bringing expertise in data analysis, investigative editing, design, audience development, and finance and human resources to local news operations that will focus exclusively on accountability journalism about criminal justice. The new local news operations will serve local audiences, including those directly impacted by the criminal justice system who have often been neglected or mischaracterized by the media.
“Much of the country’s criminal justice infrastructure is local, and local journalists are essential to holding local institutions accountable,” Carroll Bogert, President of The Marshall Project, said. “We are honored to be supported by the American Journalism Project, and grateful for the opportunity to expand into cities where there are significant criminal justice challenges, declining media institutions, great journalistic talent and local philanthropy and donors who are eager to support this work.”
Each organization in this American Journalism Project grantee cohort is being recognized for work that combines subject-matter expertise with local knowledge, brings new national funding to local news, and has a leadership team that can scale their vision across the country. The Marshall Project has not yet announced the local communities targeted for news teams.
“We are enormously grateful for this kind of philanthropic support, which encourages and supports growth of the ‘business’ side of our organization,” added Bogert. “The type of support offered by the American Journalism Project is rare and essential.”
For more information on the American Journalism Project’s portfolio of grantees, visit www.theajp.org.
