Adirondack Community Trust Collaborates with North Country Public Radio
>To increase community access to news and information on all broadcast and digital platforms;
>To increase community participation in the creation of information and media content;
>To train and incorporate a new generation of people into the work of a public media entity;
>To create an organizational template that will include young people for years to come...a template that can be shared with public stations across the country.
As an initial step, NCPR is collaborating with media and other organizations across the region to circulate a brief survey. The results will help shape the project work. Please take a minute to complete this survey.
ACT and NCPR are key organizations tying communities of the region together. NCPR is the only entity—print, digital or broadcast—providing regional news, information and cultural content. This project seeks to expand regional broadcast and digital news/information services with a special emphasis on creating the next generation of professionals in public media journalism.
People who live here recognize their unique locale but have limited access to services and conveniences taken for granted elsewhere. NCPR, with support from ACT, has worked to address a key regional deficiency: access to information and communication networks. NCPR has invested in a nationally-recognized news bureau that explores stories of regional importance, along with associated online services that provide a platform for public access and input.
A dozen years ago, NCPR assessed the region's media landscape and built a web site—to create, collect, archive, curate and encourage regional stories, images and other content from and about the people who live in the Adirondack North Country. Now, there are new challenges: how to provide access to all of the content being generated—and in the works—on current platforms and on those to be introduced in the future; how to expand community participation in the creation of content; and how to embrace and include a new generation of people in public media? In an increasingly unpredictable media and news environment, ACT and NCPR believe that the best plan for improving information access is to identify and support bright, engaged people and then to give them the guidance and toolkits they need to do good work.
In 2004, ACT was a young community foundation looking for a seasoned, well-respected nonprofit partner to co-invest with to strengthen our region. NCPR stepped forward, and we established the Adirondack News Bureau Fund for which we collectively raised a $2.2 million endowment to sustain local news coverage in the Adirondack region. The campaign was such a success, that in 2010 ACT and NCPR began to think about our next project, how to meet the community information needs of our region. Specifically, ACT will be the primary philanthropic leader in this projec establishing a designated fund, encouraging donor support, accepting and acknowledging gifts, and processing of matching dollars. ACT will be the lead communicator between all the partners including the Knight Foundation.
If you are interested in donating to the Knight Foundation Challenge Fund at ACT, we would be pleased to have your support. For more information about this project contact Cali Brooks.
