For our Chicago Neighborhood program on community journalism, we’re talking about how to share neighborhood stories, serve communal needs, and create more inclusive, democratic reporting. Check out these resources to learn more about community journalism and how to cover your neighborhood with these suggestions from our presenters and our partners at PEN America.

Community Journalism Outlets

South Side Weekly

Block Club Chicago

Hyde Park Herald

The Gate Newspaper

Black Ink

Community Journalism Organizations

Center for Citizen Media

City Bureau

Community Media Workshop

PEN America

Media 2070

Community Journalism How-to Guides

Journalist's Toolbox

The Largemouth Journal Manuel

The Public Newsroom

Socialbrite Resource Guide

Recommended to Read, Watch, and Listen

On Community Journalism:

“Build for a Crisis: Ideas for the Future of Local News” by Sarah Alvarez

“Is Movement Journalism What’s Needed During this Reckoning over Race and Inequality?” by Tina Vasquez

Maslow's Pyramid, Fake News and the Future of Journalism” by Bettina Chang

“Work2gether4Peace, Julia Hunter’s One-Woman Newsroom, Has Been Informing The Southeast Side For Nearly A Decade” by Maxwell Evans

Community Journalism Examples:

“Chicago Reacts to the Killing of George Floyd” (2020 Lisagor Award-winning issue)

“Fifty Years of Fred Hampton’s Rainbow Coalition” by Jaqueline Serrato

“A History of School Desegregation on the Far Southwest Side” by Ismael Cuevas Jr.

It’s All Good: A Block Club Podcast, hosted by Jon Hansen

The Last Men’s Hotel” by Katie Prout

“Op-Ed: We Are Adam Toledo” by Berto Aguayo

“South Shore Residents Fighting For Lakefront Erosion Help Give State Officials A Tour Of Damage” by Maxwell Evans

Social media

@PENAmerica (IG/Twitter)

@BlockClubChi (IG/Twitter)

@AfroDip (Twitter - Maxwell Evans)

@City_Bureau (IG/Twitter)

@BeChang8 (IG/Twitter - Bettina Chang)

@SouthSideWeekly (IG/Twitter)

@HechaEnChicago (Twitter - Jackie Serrato)

@Katie_Prout (Twitter)

Watch the Community Journalism program.

[Hero image description: The banner image at the top of the web page is a collage of photographs side-by-side. From left to right: community members gathered in room with their phones up, filming; person outside filming an event with their back to the camera; person crouching in the middle of an empty street, camera in front of their face; message on the wall of an underpass reading “let’s love our community.”]