New Jersey-based News Coverage to Expand and Be Enhanced with New Funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Knight Foundation

[Source: Montclair State University, September 5, 2012]

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has been awarded a grant of $800,000 over two years as a part of the Knight Community Information Challenge. The grant supports Dodge and its two lead partners, Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media and New Jersey Public Radio (a part of New York Public Radio), along with other local and statewide partners and individual projects, to significantly expand coverage and access to high quality New Jersey-focused news.

Given the dramatic changes in media and technology, an opportunity exists to rethink the way New Jersey news organizations can work with one another, share resources and reach broader audiences. The founding partners will work on a range of projects to expand coverage, engage the public and provide training and services to the news ecosystem. Selected activities include hiring reporters to focus on New Jersey issues, coordinating collaborative reporting projects, offering website-in-a-box functionality for new organizations and journalists, and developing creative community engagement projects. It will also help foster the next generation of media practitioners by providing them with training in journalism, media and business practices.

“Funding from Knight Foundation will have a profound effect on the breadth, depth and reach of New Jersey news,” said Christopher Daggett, president and chief executive officer of the Dodge Foundation. “The grant will enhance collaboration and give essential support to media organizations in order to ensure that statewide issues, ideas, events and people are showcased more strongly.”

“Rooted in collaboration, the Dodge Foundation, Montclair State University and New Jersey Public Radio are creating a statewide model to help strengthen the voice of New Jersey,” said Bahia Ramos-Synnott, director of community foundations at the Knight Foundation. “We look forward to the impact they will have on creating more informed and engaged communities.”

As a part of the challenge, the Dodge Foundation and its partners have committed to raising $1.6 million to meet Knight’s matching grant requirements.

Media Impact Funders featured this effort to expand New Jersey's news coverage at our funder conversation in June. For notes on the session, click here.