Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan is pleased to announce an innovation-driven $1.28 million gift from the Song Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. This funding will launch the Great Lakes Local News Initiative and bolster the Knight-Wallace Fellowships, providing targeted support for journalists dedicated to revitalizing local news across the midwestern Great Lakes states.
The initiative will grant specialized fellowships within the Knight-Wallace program, offering entrepreneurship training from experts at Wallace House, the University of Michigan, and national and regional journalism partners. These fellowships will empower journalists to build or grow new journalism outlets or lead innovative initiatives within existing newsrooms, ensuring local communities have access to reliable, sustainable and equitable information.
The Great Lakes Local News Initiative is an effort to address the alarming decline of local journalism and the resulting breakdown in social cohesion necessary for informed, functioning communities. Nearly one-third of U.S. newspapers have closed since 2005, leaving behind news deserts and communities vulnerable to disinformation and unaccountable leadership, threatening the fabric of democracy. By building on the 50-year history of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships, this initiative will support journalists committed to creating or rebuilding strong, inclusive local news outlets essential to fostering community engagement, action and change. The effort aligns with numerous local news initiatives across the country.
“At a time when the strength of our democracy is under intense pressure, these generous gifts shine a bright light on the vital connection between journalism and an informed, civically engaged society,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of Wallace House. “Journalists in our region have the ideas, energy and dedication to design new strategies for reaching their local communities. Our ability to add directed training, tools and support networks will propel their efforts and foster a durable news ecosystem. We are deeply grateful to the Song Foundation and the Joyce Foundation for providing this transformative catalyst.”
The Michigan-based Song Foundation has pledged a $1 million challenge grant designed to inspire additional support from foundations and individual donors across the Great Lakes states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. This gift will seed an endowment and build long-term sustainability over the next five years.
“We believe that collective investments are urgently needed to preserve local journalism and ensure residents of the Great Lakes region have access to credible information to help guide their engagement and advocacy at all levels of government,” said Khalilah Burt Gaston, executive director of the Song Foundation. “The Foundation’s commitment to building this ongoing endowment to support the Great Lakes Local News Initiative is our call for individuals and organizations to join us in supporting journalists with a vision and passion to chart new paths in their field.”
The Joyce Foundation, based in Illinois, has embraced this challenge with a $280,000 grant, reinforcing their shared commitment to equity and economic mobility in the Great Lakes region.
“It’s so important to give sharp minds the support they need to build the stronger local journalism we all need,” said Hugh Dellios, director of Joyce’s Journalism Program. “The Great Lakes region has been a fountain of innovative ideas for how to strengthen local news. We’re proud to partner with Wallace House and the Song Foundation to promote more successful entrepreneurship, and we hope others will join us in this effort.”
Applications for the Great Lakes Local News Fellowship will open in October to journalists committed to building or growing local news outlets across Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Like the traditional Knight-Wallace Fellowship, applicants must have at least five years of journalism experience and currently work in some aspect of journalism. The application deadline is February 1, 2025. The first recipients will be selected in May 2025 to join the 2025-2026 Knight-Wallace Fellowship cohort.
About The Song Foundation
The Song Foundation, inspired by Southeast Michigan’s spirit of progress and creative risk-taking, supports ideas, people, and organizations that further its shared vision of an equitable, thriving community. It embraces disruptors and amplifies the signal of people already working, every day to create opportunities for neighbors in need and to foster economic, social, environmental, and cultural wealth—community wealth—for a more free, prosperous, and joyful future.
song.foundation
About The Joyce Foundation
The Joyce Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.
joycefdn.org
About Wallace House Center for Journalists
Wallace Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan is committed to fostering excellence in journalism. We are home to programs that recognize, sustain and elevate the careers of journalists to address the challenges of journalism today, foster civic engagement and uphold the role of a free press in a democratic society. We believe in the fundamental mission of journalism to document, interpret, analyze and investigate the forces shaping society.