Our Focus.

long-term goals.

As a result of deep community listening and nationwide research, we have identified the following strategic priorities and focus areas for our work.

  • Position local news as a philanthropic priority and attract financial support 

  • Build Organizational Capacity for members via pooled resources, training, connections

  • Develop and share innovations to build skills and elevate the strength of media entities in Georgia

  • Create Content and Report Collaboratively

short-term aims.

In the next year of our work, we are pursuing proven solutions to strengthen local news and designing solutions that are unique to Georgia.

Our short-term aims through December 2024 are to:

  • Conduct a landscape analysis to identify traditional and non-traditional sources of local news, the topics covered, the communities reached, the challenges faced, and gaps across each area. This work is led by The Pivot Fund and the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas, Austin. Special thanks to the Google News Initiative for its early support of this initiative.

    Leveraging the results of the analysis, expand collaborative membership and conduct a communications campaign to rebuild trust in local news in communities across Georgia.

  • Build a pipeline for journalism, in partnership with Report for America and others;

    Invest in business innovations and professional development by hosting regular trainings for members and elevating best-in-class trainings that address Georgia-specific local news needs ;

    Conduct regular state-wide polling, in partnership with newsrooms across the state and University of Georgia, to support data-based reporting; and

    Increase co-reporting throughout the state by amplifying existing partnerships, leveraging members to increase the number of partnerships, and investing in newsrooms on identified topics and stories of interest.

  • Hire an executive director, build a business and fundraising plan, and stand up organizational structure at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta.