API Update

The selected organizations are U.S. local and community-based media organizations that are alumni of the U.S.-based Table Stakes program and participated in the API Local News Summit for Belonging and Collaboration in July 2024.

Participating news organizations will receive $3,000 to establish connections and collaborate with local influencers or trusted messengers.

The new grants specifically help augment community engagement efforts with at least one of two strategies for community engagement: community listening and conversations, and the strategic use of print.

Six news organizations will experiment with local influencers or trusted messengers to share their nonpartisan local journalism on elections in 2024 as part of a new American Press Institute program for the Knight Election Hub.

The grants will help local and community-based media across the country augment their community engagement work around local elections and beyond.

After five years of being fiscally sponsored by the American Press Institute, Trusting News is growing and entering a new chapter.

The American Press Institute refreshed the Better News website, a hub for original case studies and curated best practices for local news organizations, to improve the user experience for its readers and align it with new API branding.

The grants will help participating organizations host events that cultivate productive community engagement, build community trust, and strengthen their revenue and resilience. 

The two organizations will provide a series of monthly webinars to local media leaders and journalists in the months leading up to the 2024 U.S. elections, and share practical resources throughout the year to support news organizations’ evolving needs around local elections and democracy.

The API Local News Summit on Elections, Trust and Democracy is invitation-based, but we want to grow the network of those empowering their communities to make decisions in elections and beyond.