Chicago's newest nonprofit newsrooms on a mission to keep local journalism alive and relevant
Chicago has long been a home for groundbreaking journalism. From the reporters and editors who cover the news to the newsmakers who keep this city at the nexus of national and global flashpoints, you can count on getting the stories that matter to Chicago and the world. Though local journalism is facing a crisis in many parts of Cook County, Chicago continues to create media outlets that reach new and diverse audiences. Here are some of the newest ones to come online.
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Published on August 26, 2024. Chicago photo by Getty Images
By Judith Crown and Cassandra West
Block Club Chicago
A dozen local reports cover close to 40 neighborhoods, from Edgewater to Auburn Gresham. The team handles breaking news, such as crime, development, weather and traffic snafus. It pays attention to restaurant openings and small business. And it highlights arts and culture, including big events like music festivals. It also delights in local angles, such as highlighting the Chicago restaurants featured on the FX television show “The Bear.” It is a finalist for a Business of the Year award from Lion Publishers, a professional association for local independent news publishers in the U.S. and Canada, and has won two Peter Lisagor Awards from the Chicago Headline Club for best community reporting and best music coverage.
Year founded: 2018 Format: Digital Audience served: Citywide and neighborhoods Business model: Nonprofit Revenue source: Grants, subscriptions, advertising and donations Staff count: 36
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For more on this topic, check out Tim Daly's Forum commentary "Teachers need to be in school, too. Their attendance matters." Daly is CEO of EdNavigator and author of the Substack newsletter The Education Daly.
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Growing Community Media
GCM is a nonprofit news organization that runs four newsrooms and publishes daily online and weekly in print. The publications are Austin Weekly News (which covers Chicago's West Side), Wednesday Journal of Oak Park & River Forest, Forest Park Review and Riverside-Brookfield Landmark. It's dedicated to connecting citizens through community journalism rooted deeply in the neighborhoods it serves, based in facts and reflective of voices not always heard.
Year founded: 2019 Format: Digital and print Audience served: Tens of thousands of people on Chicago's West Side and in the city's western suburbs Business model: Nonprofit Revenue source: Mixed revenue stream that includes a combination of advertising, sponsored content, donors, subscribers and philanthropy Staff count: 16
Student absenteeism
Harvey World Herald
The Harvey World Herald provides in-depth reporting on education, business, public safety, health, politics and entertainment in the city of Harvey, which has suffered decades of poverty and disinvestment. Years ago, young residents nicknamed the community “Harvey World.” The publication has aggressively reported on a $10 million stormwater project by the city of Harvey and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District that would displace residents. It closely follows city government and reports on conflicts among the mayor, council members, business owners and residents. Founder Amethyst Davis was recognized as a 2023 Leader of a New Chicago by the Field Foundation of Illinois and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Davis was named to the inaugural Forbes 30 Under 30 Chicago list in 2023.
Year founded: 2021 Format: Digital Audience served: Harvey community Business model: For profit with a nonprofit fiscal sponsor, Tiny News Collective. Revenue source: Philanthropic grants and individual donations with major funding from Square One Foundation. Staff count: One, plus 17 freelance writers for reporting, photography and video
Investigative Project on Race & Equity
The Investigative Project on Race & Equity trains journalists in data-driven reporting and collaborates with news organizations to uncover systemic racism. It offers early-career journalists the training needed to give them the foundational skills required to produce deeply reported investigative projects. Co-founders Laura Washington and Rui Kaneya worked for The Chicago Reporter, founded in 1972 and known for its brand of "dispassionate investigative journalism." The Investigative Project's first two stories, done in partnership with WBEZ, looked at the systemic failures that led to a staggering number of traffic stops of Black drivers across Illinois.
Year founded: 2022 Format: Digital Audience served: Chicago region Business model: Nonprofit Revenue source: Foundations and individual donors Staff count: 9
Invisible Institute
The enterprise grew out of the work of investigative reporter and human rights activist Jamie Kalven, who published groundbreaking work on public housing and police abuse. His 2015 exposé in the online publication Slate, “Sixteen Shots,” detailed the police shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, which triggered a wave of political repercussions. The Invisible Institute and City Bureau won a Pulitzer Prize for a series on how Chicago police have mishandled missing persons cases, disproportionately impacting Black women and girls. The Invisible Institute won a second Pulitzer for an audio series revisiting the story of Lenard Clark, a 13-year-old Black boy who was beaten into a coma after riding his bike into the white Bridgeport neighborhood, and the relevance of the case today.
Year founded: 2014 Format: Projects are published by editorial partners online and in print. Audience served: Primarily covers South and West sides of Chicago, but aims to reach audiences throughout Illinois Business model: Nonprofit Revenue source: Donations and philanthropic grants Staff count: 13 full time and four part time
Start over
Chicago Public Square
Chicago Public Square is an independent reader-supported email newsletter run by Charlie Meyerson, a veteran radio and internet journalist. Started shortly after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, Chicago Public Square, Meyerson says, revived a concept he pioneered at the Chicago Tribune in the early 2000s: A text-based newscast “keeping track of things that are happening. . . in a bullet-point form.” It’s published once a day, Monday-Friday, at 10 a.m. — late enough to include developments not in the morning’s papers or TV shows.
Year founded: 2017 Format: Email Audience served: Chicago region Business model: For-profit Revenue source: Advertising and reader support Staff count: 1
