The American Press Institute is pleased to announce new funding from The Heinz Endowments to continue and expand the work of the Pittsburgh Community Advisory Committee — a collaborative initiative to strengthen representation, accountability and trust between local newsrooms and the communities they serve.
The next phase, enabled by the Endowments’ two-year commitment of more than $150,000, will enable regular collaboration between Pittsburgh residents and local newsrooms, particularly through:
- Convening two cycles of the Community Advisory Committee, involving residents and newsroom staff;
- Hosting public, issues-based listening sessions across the Pittsburgh area; and
- Producing a white paper distilling lessons, outcomes and practical strategies from the multi-year community foundations’ investment.
“This renewed support from The Heinz Endowments is more than funding — it’s a vote of confidence in a model that API has been refining with community members and newsroom partners. The lessons from the pilot are shaping how we scale and sustain this work, deepen local accountability and help newsrooms act on what they hear. We’re grateful to keep building an equitable local news ecosystem with Pittsburgh,” said Samantha Ragland, senior vice president at API.
Launched in 2024 as part of the API Inclusion Index, the community advisory committee brings together community members and local newsrooms to assess and improve how news outlets reflect and engage historically underserved communities. Guided by lived experience and community critique, the committee’s insights have already helped newsrooms, such as WESA and Pittsburgh’s Public Source, shift practices around sourcing, framing and community connection.
Through this new funding, API will deepen its impact in and support of Pittsburgh’s local news ecosystem by moving beyond a pilot program and toward the sustained community feedback loop necessary to report for all — not just some. In this updated program, we will:
- Sustain regular advisory committee sessions
- Support newsroom-led listening sessions
- Expand recruitment of the advisory committee to reflect Pittsburgh’s diverse communities
- Extend engagement to additional news outlets
- Tracking and publishing newsroom shifts resulting from committee feedback to ensure transparency and accountability
In 2027, in partnership with Letrell Crittenden, Ph.D., director of the Center for Community-Engaged Media at Temple University, API will publish a report detailing the breadth and depth of the API Inclusion Index, which by 2027 will have spanned five years of philanthropic investment from The Heinz Endowments, Hillman Foundation and the Pittsburgh Foundation. The report will share what’s worked, what changed and what will follow, aimed at helping other cities and newsrooms adopt community-partnered approaches to equitable journalism and embed community voices in local journalism strategy and structure.
About The Heinz Endowments
The Heinz Endowments works to grow an exemplary, sustainable Pittsburgh region where everyone prospers and belongs. Our work in Arts & Culture; Civic Participation; Climate, Environment & Health; Community & Economic Development; Food Systems; Veterans; and Workforce is supported by reliable data based on results-focused goals. The Endowments is among the 60 largest philanthropic organizations in the United States, distributing approximately $90 million in grants annually.
About the American Press Institute
The American Press Institute supports local and community-based media through research, programs and products that foster healthy, responsive and resilient news organizations. API envisions an inclusive democracy and society, where communities have the news and information they need to thrive. API is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization, and its parent organization is the News/Media Alliance.
