Local, hard-hitting watchdog journalism is alive and kicking in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The team behind New Brunswick Today is taking on some of the area’s most important stories, covering city corruption, making government more transparent, and giving diverse communities across the city a voice.

Since 2011, this independent, bilingual community news organization has been providing fearless, independent coverage on a shoestring budget. This week they launched a crowd-funding campaign, asking the city they love to help them grow, bring on more reporters and expand the impact of their reporting.

At the Dodge Foundation we chose New Brunswick Today as one of six partner newsrooms for our journalism sustainability project because we were excited about their mission and passion for serving the people of New Brunswick. They are digital first but print a monthly newspaper to reach parts of their community who don’t have easy access to the web. They seek out sources in the community and publish in English and Spanish. They are creative, passionate, and generous, testing new ideas and offering lessons and advice to other community news organizations across the state.

Most of all, they are risk takers, willing to tackle tough topics and stand up for the public’s right to know. But they can’t do it alone. That’s why the Dodge Foundation is matching the first $5,000 in community donations to New Brunswick Today.

If you live in New Brunswick please help them chart a new future for local journalism in the city. If you live outside New Brunswick, consider supporting this bold experiment in bilingual, community driven local news. We’ll be sharing everything we learn working with New Brunswick Today over the next two years – make a donation today.

Want a taste of the kind of reporting New Brunswick Today does? Here are just a few of the important stories their investigations helped bring to light:

• New Brunswick Caught Falsifying Water Quality Reports to Cover Up Problems
• Millions in Sandy Relief Funding Steered to New Boraie Luxury Building
• Irregularities Undermine New Brunswick’s First-Ever School Board Election
• Police Release Secret Maps and Announce New Initiatives in Wake of Student Death
• NBToday Editor Arrested and Later Thanked By City After Reporting NBPD Ticket Books in Garbage

Learn more and back this project here: http://newbrunswicktoday.com/article/community-supports-local-paper-15000-crowdfunding-campaign