AP Fund for Journalism announces board of directors, 1st program with nearly 50 local newsrooms

Local newsrooms are on the frontlines telling the stories that matter most to their audiences, yet often they lack the resources to do so effectively. This pilot program is a critical first step in our mission to close that gap, ensuring that state and local newsrooms have the tools they need to keep the public informed on stories and issues that wouldn’t otherwise receive coverage.”

Rachel White, CEO, AP Fund for Journalism

The AP Fund for Journalism (APFJ) has announced its board of directors and a local newsroom pilot program in which it will work with nearly 50 nonprofit news organizations to support state and local news reporting.

The program marks the first such project for APFJ, the charitable organization created by The Associated Press in 2024 to support public service journalism and make it accessible to state and local news organizations in the U.S.  

“Fact-based, independent journalism is the backbone of engaged communities and informed civic discourse. Local newsrooms are on the frontlines telling the stories that matter most to their audiences, yet often they lack the resources to do so effectively,” said APFJ CEO Rachel White. “This pilot program is a critical first step in our mission to close that gap, ensuring that state and local newsrooms have the tools they need to keep the public informed on stories and issues that wouldn’t otherwise receive coverage.” 

Through the APFJ pilot program, which is supported by the Google News Initiative, participating newsrooms will receive a selection of AP text, video and photo content and access to editorial tools and training to further support their newsgathering work.  

Participating newsrooms include: Arizona Luminaria; Bridge Michigan; Broadband Breakfast; Brown Impact Media Group (Flint Beat and Black Like Us), Bucks County Beacon; Cityside Journalism Initiative (Berkeleyside, Richmondside, The Oaklandside); Conecta Arizona; Enlace Latino NC; Eye on Dunn County; Honolulu Civil Beat; InvestigateWest; Jacksonville Today; Local News Now (ARLnow.com, ALXnow.com, FFXnow.com and PoPville.com); Local News Matters (The Mendocino Voice and Bay City News); MinnPost; Mirror Indy; Mississippi Free Press; Mississippi Today; Mongabay; Mountain State Spotlight; Now Habersham; Outlier Media; Planet Detroit; PublicSource; Racine County Eye; Sahan Journal; San José Spotlight; South Dakota News Watch; Spotlight Delaware; Spotlight PA; StateCollege.com; The Chronicle (Duke University); The Daily Catch; The Connecticut Mirror, The Daily Yonder; The Haitian Times; The Highlands Current; The Land; The Maine Monitor; The Nevada Independent; The Reporting Project; VernonReporter; and VTDigger. 

Governed by an independent board of directors, APFJ will help sustain, augment and grow public service journalism and services for the local U.S. news industry. 

The members of the APFJ board of directors are: 

• Kathleen Carroll, chair of the board of trustees, Montclair Local Nonprofit News 

• Mary W. Graham, co-director and co-founder, the Transparency Policy Project at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government 

• Julie Pace, senior vice president and executive editor, The Associated Press 

• Charles Sennott, founder, GroundTruth Media Partners, LLC, and co-founder Report for America 

• Daisy Veerasingham, president and CEO, The Associated Press 
• Lauren Williams, co-founder and CEO, Capital B 

The board is chaired by Sennott.  

About APFJ:

The AP Fund for Journalism was created by The Associated Press in 2024 to support public service journalism and make it accessible to state and local news organizations in the U.S. APFJ’s ambition is to underpin and support the U.S. news ecosystem by ensuring news services and widespread access to reliable, nonpartisan and fact-based news and information in underserved issue areas, including but not limited to state and local news. APFJ also supports journalism in topical areas, like health, democracy, education and climate. Online: https://www.apfj.org/  

About AP:

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day. Online: www.ap.org.