Training, research, and organizing
Just Transition
A changing economy and climate call for more just and equitable journalism and media. Just Transition supports allied networks and organizations through training, research, and organizing.
Equitable change to meet the moment
Just Transition supports allied networks and organizations through training, research, and organizing.
The program pushes the journalism and media industry to adopt fairer, more inclusive, and restorative production practices, centering the needs of workers and communities to equitably respond to unprecedented economic and climate disruption.
Collaborations and research
The program trains journalists in workplace democracy and community engagement, supports fundraising at community media organizations, and researches media funding models and their impact on communities.
Resources
From Just Transition
Financing civic information as public infrastructure (opens in a new window)
A News Futures working group white paper co-authored by Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Coop, proposes new ways to finance civic information as public infrastructure.
FT Strategies, Knight Foundation local news sustainability report features The Jersey Bee (opens in a new window)
A report from FT Strategies and the Knight Foundation shows how local news organizations can build financial resilience while centering their communities, highlighting The Jersey Bee in several areas.
How The Jersey Bee treats journalism as a social service (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, argues that U.S. news media is driven by a culture of breaking news and deficit-centered reporting that fails to address communities' social-emotional needs, calling for journalism to be developed as a social service.
Journalism as repair and power building (opens in a new window)
In a presentation for LION Publishers, Community Info Coop founder and CEO outlines The Jersey Bee's dual mission to serve working people and communities of color and develop a service model for local news as a public utility.
How The Jersey Bee uses journalism to improve public health (opens in a new window)
In Current, The Jersey Bee describes how its reporting, newsletters, resource textline, and more improve the social determinants of health for New Jersey residents.
Community Info Coop partners with The Objective to raise $20,000 to launch a media democracy beat (opens in a new window)
Community Info Coop partnered with The Objective, a nonprofit journalism organization, to organize a pooled fund to launch the first media democracy beat in the U.S.
Just Transition launches KnightDEI.org, investigation into DEI and accountability at the Knight Foundation (opens in a new window)
The Community Info Coop’s Just Transition program released a report on the Knight Foundation, analyzing the private foundation’s commitment to DEI and reporting on allegations of self-dealing and workplace harassment.
Philanthropy must focus on participatory local journalism (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, describes how corporate media undermine nonprofit and independent news organizations and limit the public benefit of media policy, urging funders and investors to support participatory local journalism organizations.
Community Info Coop grant launches ‘Stories Invincible,’ initiative to elevate restorative narratives in Camden (opens in a new window)
The Community Info Coop provides seed funding to launch Stories Invincible, a restorative narrative project in Camden led by the Center for Cooperative Media with support from Movement Alliance Project, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and New Jersey Local News Lab.
Bloomfield Info Project explores reparative local news (opens in a new window)
As a JSK Fellow, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, describes how the Bloomfield Info Project, the precursor to The Jersey Bee, explored the development of restorative and reparative journalism practices in a local news utility model as an alternative to the more extractive commercial media sector.
Community Info Coop launches New Jersey Community Media Collective (opens in a new window)
Community Info Coop joined Free Press and the New Jersey Local News Lab to organize a statewide, consensus-based collaboration among community media publishers.
Bloomfield Info Project tests a public utility model for local news (opens in a new window)
As a JSK Fellow, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, describes how the Bloomfield Info Project, the precursor to The Jersey Bee, explored a publicly funded utility model for local news by adapting the Info Districts model.
Beyond commercial local news (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, argues that the state of commercial newspaper ownership requires public investment in non-commercial alternatives.
Community Info Coop founder selected for 2021–22 JSK Community Impact Fellowship (opens in a new window)
Stanford University's John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships selected Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, to develop the Bloomfield Information Project, the precursor to The Jersey Bee, in a 2021–22 Community Impact Fellowship.
Conversations with Knight Foundation stakeholders raise concerns about far-right ties (opens in a new window)
In The Objective, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Coop, reports on conversations with journalism and civic leaders about the Knight Foundation's ties to far-right figures and ideology.
A $1 billion proposal for media reparations (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, joins Alicia Bell in envisioning directing $1 billion of Knight Foundation wealth to media justice initiatives as part of Media 2070’s call for reparations.
A local newsletter workflow to improve information equity
Community Info Coop's local news lab explains a technology-assisted workflow for finding and sharing local news and civic information through a local newsletter.
Journalists workshop explores more inclusive newsroom membership programs (opens in a new window)
For SRCCON and OpenNews, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, shares findings from a workshop where journalists gathered to learn about and develop more inclusive membership models for the communities they serve.
Could Info Districts sustain the information networks built during COVID-19?
Énois co-founder Nina Weingrill connects Brazilian mutual-aid networks to the Info Districts model, introducing a Portuguese translation of Community Info Coop’s Info Districts guide.
Participatory funding, community ownership are making journalism more equitable (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, points to small-dollar funding, community feedback, unionization, and cooperative ownership as positive trends toward more equitable decision-making in journalism and media.
Journalists workshop asks how newsrooms can share decision-making power (opens in a new window)
For SRCCON:LEAD and OpenNews, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, shares findings from a workshop where journalists practiced developing democratic decision-making within news organizations.
Colorado Media Project recommends a state law for Info Districts (opens in a new window)
The Colorado Media Project’s 2019 report on local news as a public good recommended enabling legislation to allow municipalities to establish information districts as one way to support community news and information.
Journalists workshop explores increasing democracy in the workplace (opens in a new window)
For SRCCON:POWER and OpenNews, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, shares findings from a 2019 workshop in which journalists explored how to develop more democratic practices in the workplace.
Public alternatives taking root amid commercial news crisis (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, explores the decline of local news through an ecological lens, highlighting how extractive, commercial practices have damaged the journalism ecosystem and noting a resurgence of local news grounded in restorative principles.
How local Wi-Fi networks can support community information sharing
Community Info Coop explores how neighborhood Wi-Fi networks can host local resources and help local news organizations and residents exchange information, including during internet outages.
How participatory budgeting could give communities a say in local journalism
Community Info Coop argues that community participation should shape newsroom budgets and editorial decisions, and explains how participatory budgeting could work for local news.
Journalism is a public service. Why don’t we fund it like one? (opens in a new window)
In Columbia Journalism Review, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, proposes community information districts as a way for residents to fund and help shape local news.
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