Welcome to the Local Fix. Each week we look at key debates in journalism sustainability and community engagement through the lens of local news. But first, we always begin with one good idea…

One Good Idea: Marking the Memories

Last week was full of pandemic anniversary coverage, but one project jumped out in its simplicity and humanity. The website With Love, Philly offers Philadelphians the chance to say goodbye to those they lost this year with notes, pictures, videos, and audio. Resolve Philly and 20 newsrooms partnered to reach people across the city and are still gathering goodbyes on the site. The project joins others that have used memorials, obituaries, and other tools to help communities remember and mourn together that we’ve shared before. Take inspiration for your own newsroom and community from them.  

Apply for a New Beginning

Thanks to all for the welcome back after our break last week. While we were out, several of you sent us links you’d like us to share to jobs, grants, and events. A theme jumped out across several of them: transformation. Amidst uncertainty from layoffs, corporate owners, and other cuts, all of the opportunities below offer windows to looking at the future of local journalism differently. And we know if you’re reading us then you’re on board with that idea. Go forth and get those resources, jobs, and support. (As always, let us know if you have other opportunities we should share in the future.)

• Opens March 15: Develop your own news organization in partnership with The Tiny News Collective 
• Deadline March 17: Build your skills with a $250 stipend from OpenNews for trainings, scholarships, and more 
• Deadline March 31: Apply for a grant from the NJ Civic Info Consortium, a first-in-the-country nonprofit created by the state of New Jersey  
• Deadline March 31: Get up to $15,000 from the National Association of Science Writers’ Peggy Girshman Idea Grant  (Get inspired by the broad and creative list of previous recipients) 
• Register for April 7: Create a roadmap for engaged democracy with Election SOS 
• Deadline April 22: AAJA is offering financial help for students doing summer internships this year 
• Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Apply to work at LION Publishers, American Journalism Project, or the Center for Cooperative Media 

Have a good week,

Teresa, Christine, and Areeba
@gteresa, @heres_christine, @areebashah_The Local Fix is a project of the Democracy Fund’s Public Square Program, which supports promising new experiments redefining the public square. The Fix was started by Josh Stearns and Molly de Aguiar. Some projects mentioned in this newsletter may be funded by Democracy Fund. You can find a full list of the organizations here. Follow us on Twitter at @TheLocalNewsLab.