Public Media Resilience Initiative

Helping Stations Build a Resilient Future

Across seven communities, Press Forward chapters are helping stations build new models for public media, with approaches designed to sustain original, local reporting for the long term.

When federal funding cuts forced public media stations to make painful choices, funders and residents raised their hands in unprecedented ways — from record-setting donation drives to the establishment of the Public Media Bridge Fund. Press Forward chapters also became hubs for place-based funders to invest together, in durable solutions that serve communities.

May Yang, of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, the chapter lead for Press Forward Minnesota.
May Yang, of the Minnesota Council on Foundations, the chapter lead for Press Forward Minnesota.

Building Long-term Resilience

With $2.7 million in support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, seven Press Forward Locals have brought together station leaders to design place-based approaches to long-term resilience, organized around three interconnected strategies:

  • New revenue streams that reduce dependence on any single funder
  • Shared infrastructure that lowers costs across newsrooms and
  • Long-term collaboration that helps stations better serve their communities.

Public Media Company, which leads the Bridge Fund, has provided technical assistance to Press Forward chapter and station leaders across:

  • Alaska
  • Central Appalachia
  • Bloomington and Monroe counties (Indiana)
  • Colorado
  • Minnesota
  • New Mexico
  • North Carolina

North Carolina Local News Lab Fund:
From Crisis to Coalition

When the federal funding cuts were announced, the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund convened public radio station leaders from across the state to design a more resilient public media landscape together.

Six months later, they had a plan: revive the North Carolina Public Radio Association — a statewide collective of 13 stations — and launch pilot programs across four areas:

  • Coordinated emergency communications
  • Collaborative reporting and distribution
  • Regional and statewide underwriting sales to generate new revenue and
  • A journalism pipeline for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), providing the mentoring and newsroom experience journalism majors need — a priority given how hard the funding cuts hit HBCU stations.
Blue Ridge Public Radio covers Hurricane Helene. Image by Gerard Albert III.
Blue Ridge Public Radio covers Hurricane Helene. Image by Gerard Albert III.

North Carolina Local News Lab Fund Invests $85,000 in Seed Funding for a New Public Media Collaboration →

Colorado Media Project:
Building the Infrastructure for Collaboration

In Colorado, two investments are tackling the most persistent barriers to public media collaboration: technology and trust.

DJs at KVNF, part of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio. Image courtesy of RMCR.
DJs at KVNF, part of the Rocky Mountain Community Radio. Image courtesy of RMCR.

Colorado Media Project: The keystone of local media →

Local News Loop

Led by Colorado Public Radio, the Local News Loop will build the shared digital infrastructure Colorado newsrooms need to exchange stories, photos, audio and video across the state.

Working with a coalition that includes Rocky Mountain Public Media, Rocky Mountain Community Radio and the Colorado Sun, the project will document how newsrooms share content today, develop a technical specification, and pilot a prototype in time for the 2027 legislative session.

Colorado Capitol News Alliance Redesign

The Colorado Capitol News Alliance has long provided statehouse coverage for stations across the state. Now, led by Rocky Mountain Public Media, it’s being redesigned for a post-Corporation for Public Broadcasting future, replacing federal support with a sustainable governance and funding model.

Two new producers will serve as the connective tissue between rural stations, their audiences and the journalists covering the Capitol, ensuring that what gets reported reflects what communities across Colorado need to know.

Pierce Gentry (right) of WUOT in Knoxville, Tenn., doing an interview out in the field. WUOT public radio is part of the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom collaboration
Pierce Gentry (right) of WUOT in Knoxville, Tenn., doing an interview out in the field. WUOT public radio is part of the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom collaboration

Press Forward Central Appalachia: Filling the Gaps Where They’re Deepest

Few regions has been harder hit by the collapse of local news than Central Appalachia, which has the highest concentration of news deserts in the country — and the loss of federal funding for public media has only deepened that need.

Press Forward Central Appalachia is responding by investing resources and building capacity where they are needed most.  Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a public radio collaborative, along with West Virginia Public Broadcasting and WMMT/Appalshop, will add reporters to deepen coverage of eastern and Appalachian Kentucky and rural West Virginia. Allegheny Mountain Radio, a network of three community radio stations, will strengthen its operations staff to sustain that work.

All four are part of the first cohort of the chapter’s Rural News Fund, which pairs grant funding with hands-on business coaching — giving stations resources and the capacity to use them well.