The Chicago Reporter has passed the halfway point. From Jan. 1 through Nov. 17, the Reporter generated $41,618.45 toward its $75,000 challenge grant goal as part of the Challenge Fund for Journalism VI, an effort of the Ford, McCormick and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism foundations. Any revenue from new sources or any increased revenue from existing donors and subscribers will be matched by the foundations. The deadline is Nov. 30, 2011.
The Reporter has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the John Jay College Center on Media, Crime and Justice for original investigative reporting on gun violence. The Reporter is among seven Midwest news outlets to receive the grants.
The Fund for Investigative Journalism has awarded the Reporter a $3,000 grant for an investigative project on government contracts. Last year, the Reporter was awarded one of these grants, which helped the magazine produce “Seventeen.” The investigation, featured in the September/October 2010 issue, showed that thousands of Cook County teens are being sentenced to adult time in prison mostly for nonviolent offenses.
The Reporter is a partner in the We Are Not Alone campaign, an effort of black and Latino news outlets and community organizations to document efforts to stem the flow of youth violence in Chicago’s African-American and Latino neighborhoods. For more information visit www.chicagoistheworld.org/blogs/ethnic-media-project.
The Reporter will publicly release its January/February 2011 issue from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3, at M Lounge, 1520 S. Wabash Ave. in Chicago. Join us to meet Reporter staff and supporters; enjoy free appetizers and compete for raffle prizes.