About the Civic Information Index
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Introduction
The Civic Information Index is a practical data tool that helps users understand the civic health of their communities. Newsrooms, civic and media innovators, funders, universities, community organizations and local governments across the country use the Index to make informed decisions and take action. They are relying on the Index to build investment strategies, identify underserved communities and neighborhoods, better understand rural residents, develop training programs, and strengthen local news and information ecosystems.
The Civic Information Index is co-created by The Listening Post Collective at Internews and the Information Futures Lab at Brown University, in partnership with an Advisory Group of civic and data experts, journalists and information ecosystem leaders. The first edition of the Index was launched in fall 2024, the second, current edition in May 2026.
“The reason I’m excited about this work is that we’ve been in a reactionary frame in terms of how to talk about our work. This project creates a proactive framework for discussions about what impact looks like and what we are all working towards as a collective.”
What is Civic Health?
The National Conference on Citizenship defines civic health as “the degree to which citizens participate in their communities, from local and state governance to interactions with friends or family; civic health relates to the overall well-being of neighborhoods, communities, states and the nation.”
The Civic Information Index makes this foundation — the overall well-being of neighborhoods, communities, states and the nation that fosters freedom and collective self-governance — visible and measurable in new ways.
“There’s a great opportunity to build awareness about the critical role of media in supporting healthy, engaged communities. This work helps highlight the interconnectedness of different facets of our lives and how they contribute to civic health. It’s essential for journalism to be part of this ecosystem, serving the community transparently and truthfully.”
Revitalizing journalism through a focus on civic health
Today, news ventures of all kinds are a vital part of increasingly diverse local civic health ecosystems. As communities adapt to rapid societal, political, technological and environmental change, local news organizations connect people with critical information, verify and contextualize the news, and hold the powerful accountable. But they don’t do so in isolation.
Local advocacy and power-building movements, community organizations, grassroots initiatives and others work alongside journalists and civic media with the shared goal of strengthening discourse, transparency, engagement, accountability — and ultimately, equitable outcomes for all.
“It is when we speak about civic health and what makes communities thrive that people get interested. Talking about news as a part of our civic muscle, that really resonates.”
Historically, traditional news organizations often have not served all parts of their communities equally, leaving behind those needing transparency, accountability and quality information the most. To this day, too many newsrooms fail to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Advocates continue to press for better representation, and more and more nuanced coverage of the issues and challenges experienced by communities confronting racial, economic, and other forms of discrimination.
Similarly, outdated news delivery mechanisms can create new barriers to information access and vulnerabilities for people who, for instance, can’t afford to get behind a paywall, who have low levels of trust in news and authorities, or who come from a different language and cultural context.
There is an urgent need for news media organizations to better listen to and understand civic health at the local level. It is the first step to creating more reflective, responsive and community-centered news and information projects that support and are supported by the communities they serve.
At the same time, recognizing journalism as a part of the broader civic health ecosystem opens up important opportunities. It allows shifting conversations about the need for independent news from an abstract plea to “save journalism” to very concrete examples of how journalism can support and benefit people and communities. It allows news organizations to reconnect with community members, explore how to best serve local information needs, and rebuild trust. It makes journalism more collaborative, more informed, more effective — and sustainable.
Why an Index?
In a nutshell, an index is a way to measure things. Built on a conceptual framework that clarifies what outcomes are of interest and why, an index maps out what data is and is not available and then uses the existing data to measure the outcomes of interest. By uniquely combining diverse data to assess civic health outcomes at the county level across the United States, the Civic Information Index allows us to see trends, outliers and reinforcing factors that drive civic health.
While each data set in the Index represents facts, it is important to note that the Index itself is a product of many value-based decisions, determining, for example, what factors to include and what data sets to use to measure them.
“I think this project is powerful because it brings together diverse data sets and visualizes them in a way that highlights opportunities for improving civic health. It’s a comprehensive approach that can guide us in making impactful changes.”
Where the Index data is coming from
All data in this Index has been downloaded from publicly available data sets. This includes commonly known data sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Education, the IRS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Urban Institute and Northwestern University’s Local News Initiative. It also includes more unique datasets such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services Public Libraries Survey or the number of Facebook Pages predicted to be “Public Good” pages as collected by Opportunity Insights. Details on the methodology, limitations, and a list of all indicators and their data sources is available on the Index page.)
How the Index defines key terms (Glossary)
Civic Health: Civic health is the overall wellbeing of communities and how people participate in them.
Civic Infrastructure: The places, policies, programs and practices that support civic health. From public parks to voter registration laws to newsrooms, civic infrastructure is a key facilitator of civic health.
Civic Information: Any form of communication that is vital for people to make crucial decisions about their lives, that strengthens the social bonds within a community, and that creates a strong sense of civic engagement among its residents.
Civic Life: The public life of citizens concerned with the affairs of the community and nation.
Civic Media: Techniques and organizations that generate and share civic information in democratic societies. Civic media can include traditional newsrooms focused on local reporting as well as journalism start-ups building community power and citizen-run initiatives focused, for example, on connecting people with resources and opportunities.
Community Power Building: A set of strategies to develop, sustain and grow an organized base of people to advance community-led goals. In Community Power Building, people act together through democratic structures to set agendas, shift public discourse, influence decisions and cultivate ongoing relationships of mutual accountability with decision-makers.
Information Ecosystem: A complex network of individuals, organizations, technologies, and practices that interact to create, share, and consume information, often compared to biological ecosystems due to information ecosystems’ complex, interconnected and dynamic nature. An information ecosystem includes word of mouth, trusted community leaders, local media, local authorities, social media and/or other “infomediaries” as well as channels, formats and behaviors that drive highly participatory, distributed information flows.
Index: A way of looking at or combining different data sets to measure an outcome in a standardized way.
“Our discussions underscore a critical point: the interplay between journalism and community engagement is pivotal.”
The Index Advisory Group
Past and Present Members
- Kali-Ahset Amen, Civic Engagement Director Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins1,2
- Madeleine Bair, Founding Director, El Tímpano1,2
- Paulette Brown-Hinds, Founder, Voice Media Ventures and publisher of Black Voice News1,2
- A. Rima Dael, Chief Executive Officer, National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB)2
- Andrew DeVigal, Director of the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism & Communication2
- Lizzy Hazeltine, Director of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund2
- Cameron Hickey, CEO of the National Conference on Citizenship2
- Matt Leighninger, Director, Center for Democracy Innovation, National Civic League1,2
- Loris A. Taylor, President & CEO, Native Public Media1,2
- Nik Usher, PhD, Associate Professor in Communication Studies, University of San Diego2
- Sema Sgaier, Co-Founder and CEO, Surgo Ventures1
- Mazin Sidahmed, Co-Executive Director, Documented1
- Sarah Stonbely, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University2
- Andrea Wenzel, Associate Professor of Journalism, Temple University1,2
- Amanda Zamora, Founder, Agencia Media; Co-Founder, The 19th; Independent Consultant1,2
- Stefanie Friedhoff, Co-Founder and Director, Information Futures Lab
- 1 2024 Index Advisory Group member
- 22026 Index Advisory Group member
The Index Team
- Stefanie Friedhoff, Co-Founder and Director, Information Futures Lab
- Jesse Hardman, Founder, Listening Post Collective
Listening Post Collective team members:
- Jesse Hardman, Founder, Listening Post Collective
- Carolyn Powers, Director of US Programs, Internews
- Grace Northern, Senior Program Officer
- Bailey Orr, Senior Program Associate
- Andrea Mondragón, Illustrator
- Mónica Olmedo, Senior MERL Officer, Internews
- Camilla Gomez Mendez, MERL Officer, Internews
Information Futures Lab team members:
- Stefanie Friedhoff, Co-Founder and Director, Information Futures Lab
- Irene Papanicolas, Director of the Center for Health System Sustainability, Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice, Brown University
- Benjy Renton, Research Associate
- Maecey Niksch, Research Assistant
- Shaydanay Urbani, Partnerships Manager
- Caroline Hoffman, Assistant Director Content and Strategy
About the Information Futures Lab
Brown University’s Information Futures Lab is an interdisciplinary space for civic society leaders, journalists, researchers, public officials, and other creators and sources of trusted information. Together, we respond to the ongoing information crisis as a civic and public health threat. We listen deeply, disrupt exclusive knowledge hierarchies, connect siloed leaders, expand access to quality information, and strengthen skills to see past deception and manufactured controversy. Our vision is a future where people can access, create and make sense of information that is crucial to their wellbeing, and where communities can have productive conversations and solve urgent problems—so all Americans can thrive.
About the Listening Post Collective
The Listening Post Collective was established in 2013 by Jesse Hardman to adapt Internews’s global expertise in community information mapping for the U.S. Through innovative strategies, the Listening Post Collective helps local media and community organizations address information gaps and empower underserved communities. The Listening Post Collective’s work demonstrates the power of community engagement in creating impactful, local journalism. We provide a proven framework to build resilient information ecosystems that directly serve community needs.
About Press Forward
Press Forward is a national coalition investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news, and to scale the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive.
About Democracy Fund
Democracy Fund works toward an inclusive, multiracial democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy. In collaboration with grantees, donors, and other partners, we are working to strengthen and expand the pro-democracy movement, defend against anti-democratic attacks, and advance structural change.