Public service local news provider
The Jersey Bee
Local news should be run like a public good. The Jersey Bee is a local news provider in New Jersey that meets civic news and information needs and models local news as a public utility.
Public service local news
The Jersey Bee is a local news provider in New Jersey that meets the civic news and information needs of working people and communities of color, pioneering practices and products to model local news as a public utility.
This editorially independent initiative demonstrates how newsrooms can be innovative, sustainable, and independent while working closely with their communities to meet information needs.
Impact and outcomes
The Jersey Bee produces award-winning local news and resources serving thousands of people daily. The organization uses research-backed Civic Information Design principles and proprietary technology to meet information needs, increase civic participation, and improve quality of life.
Visit The Jersey Bee (opens in a new window)
Resources
From The Jersey Bee
It shouldn’t take luck to know what’s happening where you live (opens in a new window)
Introducing The Jersey Bee 2030, our public service newsroom's plan to expand its local news and information service across New Jersey and become financially self-sustaining.
Why New Jersey’s civic information investment matters (opens in a new window)
In New Jersey Monitor, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, describes how The Jersey Bee builds local information infrastructure to respond to community needs, highlighting and promoting New Jersey's successful investments in civic information infrastructure.
CalMatters cites The Jersey Bee in its voter guide redesign (opens in a new window)
CalMatters says The Jersey Bee inspired a swipeable video feature in its voter guide, part of a broader redesign aimed at making election information easier to use.
The Jersey Bee discusses a more useful voter guide (opens in a new window)
On the Five Dubs podcast, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Coop, discusses how The Jersey Bee redesigned its voter guide to be more accessible and useful to local voters.
The Jersey Bee named a Next Challenge for Media finalist (opens in a new window)
The Jersey Bee was named a Catalyst Award division finalist in the Next Challenge for Media. Its founder describes the recognition as a milestone for the newsroom’s products and sustainability strategy.
FT Strategies maps what sustainable local news needs (opens in a new window)
A report from FT Strategies and the Knight Foundation offers a framework for community-rooted local news, connecting relevance, audience relationships, revenue, and organizational capacity.
What local news can learn from medicine (opens in a new window)
In Nieman Lab, Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, compares modern journalism to early medicine, highlighting how evidence-based approaches to treating disease led to public health breakthroughs, and calls for journalism to develop an evidence-based theory of change for diagnosing and addressing information needs.
The Jersey Bee recognized for student-created voter guide (opens in a new window)
The Jersey Bee received a statewide journalism impact award for work with Newark high school students on a guide to local school board elections, following other recognition for the project.
Editor & Publisher features The Jersey Bee’s AI news workflow (opens in a new window)
Editor & Publisher examines how newsrooms use AI, including The Jersey Bee’s proprietary technology, Harvest, to gather and prepare local information for its newsletter network.
Hacks/Hackers lists Community Info Coop founder as one of its first AI leaders to follow (opens in a new window)
Hacks/Hackers profiles Community Info Coop founder and CEO Simon Galperin, highlighting The Jersey Bee's proprietary AI-assisted curation platform, Harvest.
Community Info Coop founder Simon Galperin joins CUNY Newmark leadership cohort (opens in a new window)
CUNY’s Newmark J+ names Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op and executive editor of The Jersey Bee, as a Newmark Innovation Fellow among 21 leaders in its 2025–26 executive program cohort.
The Fix profiles how The Jersey Bee uses AI to deliver local news more effectively (opens in a new window)
The Fix highlights how The Jersey Bee uses AI and automation in Harvest, its proprietary curation technology, to help produce and deliver local news briefs across its newsletter network.
The Jersey Bee shares how Harvest curates local information (opens in a new window)
The Jersey Bee describes its provisional patent filing for Harvest, a system that maps local information sources and helps its team curate and distribute civic news across communities.
The Jersey Bee featured in international discussion on community co-created news (opens in a new window)
The International Journalism Festival hosted Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op and executive editor of The Jersey Bee, for a panel on how communities can produce news with journalists.
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.
Jersey Bee precursor, Bloomfield Info Project, profiled in The Jewish Standard (opens in a new window)
The Jewish Standard profiles Simon Galperin, founder and CEO of Community Info Co-op, and the Bloomfield Info Project, tracing his path into community journalism and the local news model he was building in Bloomfield.
Inside Bloomfield’s public service journalism lab
Bloomfield Info Project, a precursor to The Jersey Bee, shares its 2020 work on a COVID-19 information dashboard and other services designed around community information needs.
Community Info Coop raises $45,000 to expand Info Districts project
Support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Reynolds Journalism Institute helped Community Info Coop launch the Bloomfield Information Project, a precursor to The Jersey Bee, and document the Info Districts model.
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