Oakland Local
Oakland Local has become an independent news resource for what’s happening in education, city government, food, innovative tech, arts and culture, youth and more in Oakland, Calif. It is a project of the nonprofit Center for Media Change. OL’s content is produced by staff and citizen contributers and distributed across the web via Yahoo! News, KQED, SF Gate, New America Media, The Media Consortium and other partners.
Grand Ave. News
University of Miami visual journalism professor Kim Grinfeder launched a community news site for Coconut Grove, one of Florida’s oldest, but newly gentrifying, communities. News stories and visual documentaries were generated by partners, which include journalism students, the Coconut Grove Collaborative, the CG Homeowners Association (HOATA), a local health clinic and local residents. The site went inactive when it lost university support.
Intersections: South LA
Intersections South LA offers online news, features and resources about South Los Angeles, a region that is home to African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and immigrants. The coverage area stretches from University Park to Watts and explores quality-of-life issues including education, business, immigration, healthcare and the environment.
New Era Media
New Era Colorado Foundation in Boulder started a blog site covering Colorado news and politics aimed at young people. Initial content came from 10 young-adult contributors (ages 17-30), who researched and posted stories and later content was produced by other contributors. The project also actively uses social networking applications.
Maryland School Information Mapping
Towson University’s Center for Geographic Information Sciences partnered with local news site Baltimore Brew to combine Maryland Department of Education data with geomapping. The project, called M-SIM, aimed to give parents, educators, policymakers and journalists data and news about K-12 schools at the local, county and state level, complemented by news stories. journalists.
GrossePointeToday.com
Wayne State University’s journalism program, under the direction of former Detroit News editor Ben Burns, recruited some 20 displaced or retired journalists to write and edit content from citizen contributors and online journalism students at WSU and the University of Michigan-Dearborn for a full-service news and information site about Detroit’s five Grosse Pointes. Professionals pledged $20,000 in seed money to support the first year of the program. The site was active until Burns died in September 2012.
The Austin Bulldog
Ken Martin, an independent journalist with 30 years of experience, has developed this investigative news site focusing on local government and politics in Austin, Texas.
