Community

Introduction

The Civic Information Index is part of a growing ecosystem of people and projects rethinking the ways communities access, create and use information in service of civic thriving. We are indebted to the many innovators and leaders who immediately put the data and concepts to work after our launch in fall 2024, making the Index the living and breathing project we hoped it could be (also, learn how the Index is being used in specific case studies).

If you are using the Index, interested to learn more, want to take a deep dive on some data, or have questions – we’d love to hear from you!

We are also excited to cheer on kindred work that is happening across the country. It takes a village! Below are some examples we think are important contributions to the collective work. If you’re doing aligned work, be in touch!

Working with civic health data in new ways

Practitioners are using data to tell richer stories about what communities need and where to invest. The University of Virginia’s Center for Community Partnerships publishes the Orange Dot Report, a recurring assessment of self-sufficiency for families in the Charlottesville region that gives local advocates a snapshot of economic inequality and the evidence base to push for solutions. Atlanta POV, a joint initiative of Atlanta Civic Circle and Neighborhood Nexus, runs a panel survey of metro Atlanta residents, delivering their priorities and values directly to elected officials and civic leaders. And the National Conference on Citizenship has spent nearly two decades building and refining its Civic Health Index, which tracks volunteering, giving, and civic participation at the state level. This work continues to evolve as new data sources and methods become available.

Building trusted information infrastructure

Some of the most important reporting happening today happens outside traditional newsrooms. Conecta Arizona, founded during the COVID-19 pandemic, delivers daily news and fact-checking to Spanish-speaking border communities via WhatsApp. El Tímpano serves Latino and Mayan immigrants in the Bay Area through two-way information channels built around deep listening and cultural competence, and by connecting immigrants directly to local service providers. Nowruz Media, using a participatory journalism model, built a civic news platform serving Afghan immigrants in Northern California. And the Journalism + Design Lab at The New School is bringing community colleges into local news infrastructure through its Community News Networks program. In each of these models, organizations are treating their readers less like an “audience” and more like a community, building new information spaces where people can come together.

Novel ways to facilitate participatory journalism

A growing number of organizations are putting communities in the driver’s seat. Outlier Media in Detroit runs a text-message service that lets residents ask questions directly to reporters. The service reaches thousands of Detroiters each week, and this data, in turn, drives Outlier Media’s coverage. Likewise, the nonprofit newsroom Documented operates spaces on Whatsapp, Nextdoor, and WeChat for New York City’s Spanish-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and Caribbean populations, using those conversations as inspiration for evergreen resources for immigrants in the languages they speak. The Library Newsroom Project is building participatory newsrooms inside public library branches, starting with a six-issue community bulletin in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, with a vision to replicate the model in all 16,000 public library buildings in the U.S. And finally, News Creator Corps trains content creators who have already built trusted communities on social media to report more accurately, fact-check, and serve as reliable information messengers for their audiences.

Supporting community media amidst federal funding cuts

As federal support for public media has been cut or threatened, organizations across the sector have moved to protect the news outlets that communities depend on. The National Federation of Community Broadcasters has been fighting on behalf of more than 200 community radio stations facing the consequences of the defunding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, using tools including the Civic Information Index to make the case for public media as a civic health anchor in rural and underserved communities. The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund has taken a holistic approach to funding information ecosystems, using the Index to ground its grantmaking in data and build a community-centered strategy that treats journalism as part of broader civic infrastructure. Native Public Media, which oversees a network of more than 60 radio and television stations serving Indian country, continues to strengthen Native media through democratic, community-based platforms and is working on rapid response to support stations impacted by federal cuts.

Teaching students how to do community listening

Academic institutions are increasingly embedding civic listening and community engagement into journalism education. The Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon teaches students to use Index data as a starting point for listening sessions and community surveys in rural Oregon communities. The Evansville NewsLab in Indiana, a civic journalism initiative focused on raising voter turnout, is using community research to fill gaps in local news and develop a replicable model for how journalism can contribute directly to civic participation. And the Listening Post Collective supports teachers with their Playbook for Educators which includes sample lessons, case studies, discussions to help students map and engage with their local information ecosystem.