The American Journalism Project has awarded a $1.4 million grant to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service to be distributed over three years, WCIJ announced Friday.
The grant is intended to support the efforts by WCIJ and NNS to reshape local news in Milwaukee and across the state. The two nonprofits have partnered since spring 2020 on the News414 project, which uses text messages, social media and other tools to provide important news to underserved audiences in the Milwaukee area.
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The $1.4 million grant will allow both organizations to expand. WCIJ plans to use the grant to fund salaries for an audience growth director, grants manager, operations administrator and development assistant. The funds also will support a full-time project director for News414 and an NNS staffer dedicated to bringing in new revenue streams.
The American Journalism Project announced two additional grants on Thursday, awarded to El Paso Matters and Mountain State Spotlight. AJP is a venture philanthropy organization founded by pioneers in nonprofit journalism. It currently supports 22 nonprofit news organizations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
