Ark Valley Voice (AVV) has been named a 2020 #newsCOneeds Matching Grant Recipient.
This is the second year that AVV, which launched in 2018, has been selected for this grant that recognizes the role of community journalism. It is one of 25 locally-owned and nonprofit news organizations throughout the state of Colorado that have been selected for the Colorado Media Project’s 2020 #newsCOneeds Matching Grant Challenge.
“We’re so excited to announce that 25 locally-owned and nonprofit news organizations have been selected for the Colorado Media Project’s 2020 #newsCOneeds Matching Grant Challenge,” said Colorado Media Collaborative Director Laura Frank. “With your support, we’re poised to raise a quarter-million dollars for trustworthy local news in a single month.”
The window for the $5,000 NewsMatch challenge will take place between Dec. 1 (Giving Tuesday) and Dec. 31, 2020. The 25 Colorado newsrooms selected to receive a matching grant, including AVV, will have until Dec. 31 to raise at least $5,000 from individual supporters (in gifts of $1,000 or less) in order to meet the CMP match.
In 2020, with the evolving COVID-19 health crisis, the economic fallout, a virulent wildfire season, the impact of domestic militias, and foreign interference adding even more turmoil to the 2020 election, Colorado’s local newsrooms are busier than ever. This year, with the economic realities of the pandemic and the loss of advertising, community support of news sources that offer news free to readers is more important than ever.
“We demonstrate our civic value every day as an essential public service offering fact-based, local community journalism,” said Ark Valley Voice Managing Editor Jan Wondra. “Our mission is to give truth a voice — as a trusted news source covering community news, providing potentially life-saving information on the evolving COVID public health crisis, reporting on and holding government accountable. Our role is to hold a mirror to our communities in these unprecedented times.”
Last year community donations to AVV during the 2019 NewsMatch grant totaled $5,900, all of which went to fund reporter wages; a direct reinvestment in the vibrancy of the community we serve.
The 2020 #newsCOneeds matching fund of $125,000 to be split among the 25 participating news media, is made possible through operating grants to CMP from Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation, Bohemian Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Gates Family Foundation. CMP’s fiscal sponsor, Rose Community Foundation, is providing oversight and administration for the funds.
“We hope, come December, that our readers will show they value our news work and support our effort to reach the threshold to be awarded this much-needed grant,” said Wondra.
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