Putting some shine on our new sites and their recent accomplishments

By Max Resnik

Last year, we doubled the size of the Documenters Network by expanding the program from seven sites to fourteen. We introduced you to Dallas and Philly Documenters. Now we’re putting some shine on new communities from across the country that joined our network and have spent the last nine months recruiting, equipping, and paying local residents—the Documenters—to attend and document local public meetings. From startup newsrooms to our first worker-owned co-op, these teams are redefining how residents and journalists work together to bring essential information to their communities. 

Here are a few stories we wanted to highlight:

Indianapolis Documenters, powered by Mirror Indy

In 2021, a group of local journalism, community, and business leaders initiated a project to learn about the information needs of Hoosiers. More than 1000 Indiana residents participated in interviews, surveys, and focus groups. With the support of the American Journalism Project, in 2023 they launched Free Press Indiana, a new nonprofit organization with a mission to fill information gaps in the state. Their first location is Indianapolis with Mirror Indy, a newsroom for community-based journalism that informs and empowers Indianapolis residents to shape their city for the better.

Like their sibling organizations in Cleveland and Akron, Mirror Indy launched with Indianapolis Documenters as part of their newsroom from the outset. Over the last nine months, the team has produced explainers, education reporting, and trained over 120 Indianapolis residents.

Indianapolis residents at a recent community listening event. (Photo: Wildstyle Paschall)

Grand Rapids Documenters, powered by Grand Rapids Community Media Center
Public, Educational and Government Access TV Stations (PEG Stations for short) have a deep history of training local residents in the use of cameras and editing software to film local public meetings. These organizations are longtime hubs for participatory media, and they’re evolving to meet the news and information needs of their communities. We’re so excited to work with the Grand Rapids Community Media Center (GRCMC) and have seen how public access stations can work with Documenters to provide essential information to their communities. In addition to Documenter-produced voter guides, the GRCMC team has relaunched The Rapidian, a resident-powered local news website.

Documenters in Grand Rapids

Akron Documenters, powered by Signal Akron
With the success of Signal Cleveland and the Cleveland Documenters, we are so excited to have Documenters covering public meetings in Akron. Like Cleveland and Indianapolis, the Akron newsroom launched with Documenters. It has been incredible to see how Documenters and editorial staff work together to produce important local reporting and we love seeing Documenter bylines connected with articles inspired by their work!

Community listening in Akron, Ohio

San Diego Documenters, powered by inewsource
At 15 years old, inewsource is one of the longest-running nonprofit newsrooms in our Documenters Network and one of the first nonprofit newsrooms in the United States. When we first connected with Lorie Hearn, inewsource’s founder, we were surprised to learn about all of the meetings in San Diego county that lacked attendance and coverage by local media. With their new Documenters program, the inewsource team is providing essential local news and information in English and Spanish while building a pipeline of future reporters and engaged residents. The inewsource team has kicked off a partnership with San Diego State University where students take up Documenters assignments as part of their syllabus. During their first assignment, they found an open meeting violation.

San Diego Documenters training

Spokane Documenters, powered by Range Media
For our first Documenters site in the Northwest, we couldn’t have chosen a better partner than Range Media. Based in Spokane, Range is a member of the Spokane Workers Cooperative. This means that all staff are worker-owners of the newsroom. In addition to watchdog reporting, Range produces how-to guides for residents who want to know how to speak at City Council meetings. Documenters’ questions and curiosities about local government have led to important local reporting that makes local government easier to understand and navigate.

Spokane Documenters team

Each Documenters team learns from one another within the network we sustain. As the network expands, our learning community becomes increasingly generative and inspiring. We are so glad to work with all of these dedicated reporters, editors, and Documenters. We’ve got a stellar group of new sites starting early this year and more to come in 2024!

Want to learn more about City Bureau’s growing Documenters Network? Check out Documenters.org.