Facebook announces 23 winners of grants meant to boost community journalism; several have rural resonance

The Facebook Journalism Project and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism have announced the first round of Community Network grant recipients; the 23 winners each get up to $25,000 for six-month projects aimed at helping connect communities with local newsrooms.

"Whether an individual journalist or a larger news organization is trying to build a new business around memberships, or create a tool that helps local storytellers find and engage new audiences, Community Network grants provide both financial support and advisory assistance to help local news best serve its communities. The grants place special emphasis on the needs of news deserts and underrepresented communities," the FJP says.

Facebook announced the pilot program in March, saying it was an effort to shrink "news deserts" that no longer have local media coverage. However, this round of grants doesn't seem to get at that problem very much. Here are some of the winning projects with rural resonance:

• The Native American Journalists Association will provide indigenous student journalists with specialized training and mentorship as part of an effort to increase indigenous voices in newsrooms from 0.2% to 2% within the next 10 years.
• 100 Days in Appalachia plans to pilot of network of "context" creators to help reporters and editors cover the region with more nuance and depth, in hopes of mitigating or preventing coverage that relies on stereotypes and simplistic narratives. They're also producing a toolkit with guidelines on how (and how not to) cover Appalachia in 2020 election stories.
• Carolina Public Press plans to embed reporters in food banks across North Carolina and conduct community forums and listening sessions with clients, and produce stories and two online toolkits aimed at uncovering root causes and potential solutions to hunger.
• EducationNC in Raleigh will host a series of town halls to build community and audience among students at North Carolina's 58 community colleges.
• Mississippi Today plans to reach out to more Mississippi expatriates with events in nearby states, a monthly newsletter and an expat Facebook group.
• Nevada Public Radio is launching a collaborative reporting project focused on acute issues of rural health-care access in Tonopah, Nevada.