Shape the Field. Get Involved.

Mar 26

NF Live — Convention takeaways shared; Working Groups, Communities of Practice, and Gardening Club announced as the primary ways to engage in 2026–2027; all participation forms go live

Mar 26 – May 1

Interest sessions hosted for prospective Working Group, CoP, and Gardening Club participants throughout April; questions welcome via the NF Slack

May 1

Submission deadline — Gardening Club nominations, Working Group proposals, and Communities of Practice proposals all due

May – Jun

Proposals reviewed; NF community votes on Working Groups, Communities of Practice, and Gardening Club members — two full weeks to maximize participation

By Jun 12

All selected groups and members notified and confirmed

Jun – Aug

Onboarding period (~10 weeks) for all selected Working Group stewards, CoP leads, and incoming Gardening Club members

By Sep 15

Launch — All Working Groups and Communities of Practice active and open to Signatories; Gardening Club terms begin

Sep 2026–Dec 2027

Working Groups and Communities of Practice active (~15 months)

The Challenge

News Futures' Charter is one of our most important assets — a statement of shared values that thousands of signatories have committed to. But signing a document and being shaped by it are two different things. Too often, the Charter sits in the background of daily work rather than animating it. Meanwhile, NF is trying to build something that doesn't fully exist yet — and that makes it hard to explain, hard to join, and easy to misread. This campaign asks: how do we make membership in News Futures feel meaningful, legible, and alive — to signatories, to adjacent fields, and to communities we hope to reach?

The Campaign

Shared Identity is about clarifying and deepening what it means to be part of News Futures — and who belongs. The 2026 News Futures Convention surfaced a powerful frame: News Futures is the connective tissue across fields that provides and mobilizes civic information. We are a network of networks — and the how and why of how we work together matters as much as what we produce. That framing has implications for language (lose "journalism," use verbs: communicate, share, make, do), for structure (tiered identity statements for different audiences), and for practice (funding the network weavers and cross-pollinators who hold it all together).

This campaign also acknowledges a real tension: we're building something that doesn't fully exist yet, which makes legibility hard. Rather than resolving that tension prematurely, Shared Identity works to create simple, actionable language at multiple levels — from the Charter down to a one-liner someone can use at a dinner party — while holding space for emergence.

What Success Looks Like

Signatories don't just sign the Charter — they return to it. People doing civic information work who never identified with "journalism" find themselves at home in NF. New members find genuine on-ramps. Stewards feel seen and supported. NF has distinct, resonant language for allies, for communities, and for funders — and those three framings live under a unified identity tent. The Charter evolves alongside the people it represents.

Tensions to Hold

Legibility vs. emergence: NF is building something new, and over-defining it too early could foreclose possibilities. How do we create enough clarity to invite participation without codifying prematurely? And: as NF grows, how do we stay coherent? What's the right size, and how do we preserve the quality of connection that makes NF valuable?

Example Working Groups

• Charter Translation & Tiered Messaging — Develop identity statements at multiple levels for three distinct audiences: network members and allies, communities we serve, and funders. Create language templates people can adapt and "approve" — grab-and-roll language for different contexts.

• Network Weaver Fund — Design and steward a microgrant or fellowship program that funds weavers and connectors — inside and outside NF — whose role is building bridges across fields and constituencies. Explore a "Bring a Friend" campaign that invites signatories to introduce someone from an adjacent space.

• Signatory Engagement & Onboarding — Design and steward a welcoming experience for new signatories that goes beyond a confirmation email, and create spot-contributor opportunities (asks/offers, popup sprints, short-term Working Groups) for the 700–800 signatories not yet in Working Groups.

• Charter Evolution — Establish a process for how NF reflects on, updates, and communicates changes to the Charter over time. Who has input? How often? What triggers a revision?

• Alliance Mapping & Field Expansion — Identify and build relationships with organizations and individuals who share NF's values but don't yet see themselves as players in civic information: libraries, faith communities, public health organizations, historical societies, local government offices, community development hubs. Develop outreach strategies and language that make the invitation legible to each.

The Challenge

The funding and policy environment that shapes news and information work too often lacks imagination — and courage. Philanthropy follows familiar patterns, frequently chasing elections rather than building durable infrastructure. Policy has yet to treat civic information as the public good it is. And private capital remains largely untested in this space, leaving many organizations — particularly BIPOC-led and community-rooted media — without viable paths to sustainability. As one breakout participant put it: "I don't expect we're going to be saved by policy and philanthropy in the next 5 years." This campaign takes that seriously.

The Campaign

Funding and Policy mobilizes NF's people, relationships, and collective power to expand what's possible — financially and politically. That means pursuing a genuinely diversified capital stack that goes beyond philanthropy: cooperative structures, small business loans, earned revenue models, CDFIs, and private capital experiments. It means pursuing bold policy initiatives — a new tax designation for civic media organizations distinct from 501(c)(3), an AmeriCorps-style program for civic information, municipal funding streams, a National Civic Information Endowment. And it means organizing funders — not pushing them, but building coalitions of funders with shared interests in civic life (public health, climate, local economies) who aren't yet coordinating.

A key narrative shift running through this campaign: reframe the work from "local news" (which alienates many) to "place-based information" or "civic information as infrastructure" — showing its connection to shared purposes like public health, emergency response, and democratic participation.

What Success Looks Like

At least one new private capital model is prototyped and documented. Policy conversations increasingly reflect NF's values. Aligned funders — including those outside traditional news philanthropy — are coordinating and moving resources more strategically. NF has a "coat for the coatrack": organizational infrastructure (potentially including 501c4 status) that enables real power-building. The field has a clearer, more compelling narrative about why civic information is infrastructure, not charity.

Tensions to Hold

Timing and windows: CPB's dissolution is a crisis moment. The 2028 election will predictably pull philanthropy's attention. How does NF act into these windows without being captured by them? And: how does NF bring in resources without cannibalizing dollars for the many organizations that compose the field? Funder accountability also surfaced: if Knight has dropped DEI language, can NF establish standards about how funders in this space should behave?

Example Working Groups

• Capital Stack Expansion — Build a living inventory of non-philanthropic funding options (CDFIs, cooperative loan funds, earned revenue models, small business loans, impact investment) and develop playbooks for how civic information organizations can access them. Platform existing NF experiments like the Seed Commons model and revenue-generating curation tools.

• Bold Policy Initiatives — Develop and advocate for one or more transformative policy proposals: a new tax designation for civic media, an AmeriCorps-style program, municipal funding streams, or a National Civic Information Endowment. Includes research, coalition building, and strategic communications.

• Funder Organizing — Map the landscape of aligned funders — including those in public health, climate, community development, and local economies — and develop a strategy for organizing them around shared values. Build a Theory of Change for funder organizing.

• Policy Landscape Monitoring — Maintain a living scan of relevant policy windows and funding opportunities affecting civic information, and circulate timely alerts and action opportunities to signatories.

• Narrative & Messaging Lab — Develop and test clear, resonant language that frames civic information as infrastructure and public good — for funders, policymakers, and the broader public. Explore the shift from "local news" to "place-based information" and build a messaging toolkit the field can use.

• Private Capital Lab — Prototype and document experiments with non-philanthropic capital models — including banking solutions and equity structures for BIPOC media — and share learnings broadly.

The Challenge

People doing civic information work are constantly running into the same questions — and reinventing the same wheels. Important research exists that practitioners never see, scattered across academic journals, white papers, organizational reports, and adjacent fields like public health, disaster response, and learning science. At the same time, critical questions remain unanswered because no one has resourced the inquiry. And even when knowledge exists, it's often inaccessible — wrong language, wrong format, wrong place. This campaign is about changing all of that.

The Campaign

Knowledge Base works on two tracks. The first is curation: building and maintaining an AI-powered knowledge commons that compiles essential research, frameworks, and case studies — not only from journalism, but from adjacent fields including behavioral science, community infrastructure theory, social movement work, public health communication, and instructional design. The goal is to make this knowledge as accessible as possible to practitioners who don't have resources for exhaustive searching, with AI-assisted tools that point people in the right direction and can be paired with outreach and coaching.

The second track is generation: defining a research agenda for unanswered questions, stewarding collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and funding and disseminating new work. This includes surfacing evidence we already have and can act on now — the documented connection between democracy and journalism, the value of community advisory boards, the impact of hyperlocal and ethnic media — and filling gaps where evidence is thin.

Both tracks serve the same goal: building a "center of gravity" for the field — a learning hub that accelerates knowledge, reduces duplication, and helps practitioners, funders, and policymakers act on evidence.

What Success Looks Like

Practitioners can quickly find relevant research when they need it, in accessible formats and multiple languages. New research is shaped by the questions people in the field are actually asking. Researchers and practitioners are in genuine collaboration. Knowledge produced in the NF ecosystem is shared broadly and translated for multiple audiences. The field has a shared, AI-assisted infrastructure for learning that it controls — not dependent on extractive platforms.

Tensions to Hold

AI ethics and reliability: How do we ensure LLM outputs are reliable and don't hallucinate? What are the licensing implications of putting papers and frameworks into a model? Does NF need an AI ethics policy? And: how do we make tools accessible across languages and to organizations of all sizes? Who counts as "we" in defining research priorities — practitioners, researchers, funders, communities?

Example Working Groups

• AI-Powered Knowledge Commons — Build and maintain an LLM-powered repository of essential research, frameworks, and case studies from journalism and adjacent fields. Design for accessibility — multiple languages, plain language, AI-assisted navigation — and develop an AI ethics policy for NF's use of these tools.

• Research Agenda — Facilitate a participatory process to identify the field's most important unanswered questions and develop a shared agenda for inquiry. Prioritize questions like: why local information has to be local to be trusted; the value of community advisory boards; what communities can do with good information; and the impact of hyperlocal and ethnic media.

• Adjacent Fields Convening — Build relationships with and bring in knowledge from fields doing adjacent work: disaster response systems, public health communication, learning science, census infrastructure, community organizing, and more. Could include a Perspectives-style convening that brings multiple sectors into dialogue.

• Researcher-Practitioner Bridge — Steward ongoing relationships and collaborative projects between academic researchers and on-the-ground practitioners, with attention to co-design and power.

• Knowledge Translation — Take new and existing research and translate it into accessible formats — briefs, guides, workshops — for different NF constituencies: practitioners, funders, policymakers, community members.

• Field Funding Coordination — Identify gaps in research funding and work with funders to resource inquiry that the field needs but the market isn't producing.

The Challenge

The NF Charter articulates values that signatories have committed to — but values on paper don't automatically become values in action. Organizations and individuals need concrete tools, scaffolding, and support to translate principles into practice, and they need honest ways to assess how they're doing and improve over time. Right now, those tools are scattered, inconsistent, or nonexistent. And existing standards in the field often reproduce the biases of professionalized journalism — excluding grassroots practitioners, centering nonprofits, and creating training fatigue without meaningful change. This campaign builds something different.

The Campaign

Standards of Practice develops the scaffolding that helps news and information organizations — and the people who work in them — live their values. That includes charter-linked self-assessment tools (internal and external-facing), a code of ethics distinct from traditional journalism, recommended practices mapped to different constituencies, model policies, curriculum, and clear definitions of impact. Critically, this campaign draws a line: it identifies not only what civic media practice is, but what it is not — drawing red lines against cooption and establishing what "civic media certified" actually means.

Just as importantly, this campaign is about culture and buy-in, not compliance. The best standards are ones people want to use. That means designing with — not just for — communities, centering the lessons that community practitioners can teach others, and building learning experiences that are accessible, multi-format, and genuinely fun.

What Success Looks Like

Organizations across the NF ecosystem have practical tools to assess and improve alignment with Charter values. New practitioners have clear on-ramps for learning and applying standards. The field has shared language and benchmarks — a "scientific method" for civic media — without feeling policed or over-prescribed. Funders can recognize when organizations are doing this work well and know how to commission it. Participation in standards development is broad, representative, and includes non-journalists.

Tensions to Hold

Codification vs. emergence: Standards can calcify a field as easily as they can strengthen it. How do we build in elasticity and flexibility? Standards for whom, and to what end? The breakout sessions surfaced a crucial question: are we primarily trying to hold accountable the organizations being paid to distribute information, or are we trying to support grassroots practitioners? These may require different approaches. And: this group has a nonprofit bias — but BIPOC media and community-rooted organizations may have different structures, incentives, and relationships to formal standards.

Example Working Groups

• Charter-Linked Assessment Tools — Develop a self-assessment framework for news and information organizations to evaluate their alignment with NF Charter values — including metrics around community demographics, accountability, information needs assessments, and participatory practices. Build both an internal version (for signatories) and an external-facing version (to help organizations communicate their values to collaborators and funders).

• Code of Ethics & Red Lines — Develop a practical code of ethics for the field, distinct from traditional journalism standards — one that defines what civic media practice is and, critically, what it is not. Includes verification standards, transparency practices, and legal standards for independent contractors and participatory projects.

• Curriculum & Training — Build learning resources — workshops, peer cohorts, formal curriculum for university and community contexts — that center community expertise and make the value of civic information tangible. Design around the eight Community News Roles framework; include formats for organizations of all types and sizes.

• Practice Bank & Civic Media Certification — Curate and develop a living library of recommended practices, model policies, and replicable templates — organized by constituency, topic, and implementation level. Develop clear criteria for what is "civic media certified" and build a public-facing story tracker of aligned civic media examples.

• Impact Definitions & Measurement — Develop shared standards for defining and measuring impact in civic information work — emphasizing the actionability and usefulness of information rather than reach. Build a standard for information needs assessments and a checklist for whether a practice meets NF Charter values.

• Popular Education & Field Curriculum — Connect standards to accessible popular education about the value of news and civic information — for residents, local officials, and anchor institutions. Designed for both organizational and community contexts. (Connects to Campaign 5.)

The Challenge

Across the country, there are people doing vital work to keep civic life functioning — not because they have journalism credentials, but because they care about their communities. Librarians, block captains, neighborhood correspondents, faith leaders, community organizers, county workers. Most of them are doing it in isolation, without connection to each other, without recognition, and often without resources. Meanwhile, the civic information field remains largely organized around professionalized journalism — which means it misses most of the people actually doing this work. News Futures has an opportunity to change that, but only if it's willing to move from "journalism as a profession" to "journalism as a practice."

The Campaign

Leadership & Grassroots builds solidarity between News Futures, local information stewards, and community builders — mapping these networks, strengthening them, and creating conditions for connection to persist long after NF convenes it. That means physically gathering (think: 100 dinners in 100 cities), moving resources toward local anchors and network weavers, building shared identity and practices across roles, and creating new spaces — online and offline — that aren't dependent on extractive platforms.

It also means investing in the informal leaders who don't have professional credentials but are already doing this work: through fellowships, through recognition, through the creation of a Community Care Corps with clear values and genuine support structures. And it means building the kind of language and on-ramps that make NF legible and welcoming to people who've never heard of it — as the environmental movement did for climate activists, NF can do for civic information.

What Success Looks Like

More information stewards and community builders are connected to NF and to each other. Shared identity forms across roles — journalists, block captains, county officials, community organizers, librarians — united by commitment to civic information. Convenings continue beyond initial NF interventions. The flow of information in communities looks visibly different: assets are more visible, gaps are named, and people doing this work know they are not alone. New leaders are supported and recognized, and the people stepping down from leadership are supported too.

Tensions to Hold

Economics of participation: How do we incentivize participation beyond just dollars — but also: do we need to pay people to do this work? Time banking and mutual aid models surfaced as alternatives worth exploring. Language: if everything is in English, many of the most important leaders are excluded. Identity vs. place: organizing around identity can create tensions; this campaign focuses on place-based organizing. And a real tension around information quality: community leader does not equal good information provider; many grassroots leaders lack civic knowledge or sometimes spread misinformation. How does the campaign hold high standards while remaining genuinely inclusive?

Example Working Groups

• Community Care Corps — Define what it means to be part of a Community Care Corps: values, commitments, and practices centered on care, relationship, and community embeddedness. Develop a "Care Corps Cookbook" explaining how to build stronger community relationships (including models like babysitting coops and mutual aid structures). Operationalize through Care Corps dinners and gatherings.

• 100 Dinners in 100 Cities — Design and steward a replicable model for NF members and allied community builders to host local information steward gatherings, with facilitation guides, follow-up infrastructure, and a shared learning loop across sites.

• Grassroots Fellowship — Develop a fellowship program ($10k to 10 people, or similar) for people doing civic information work without formal journalism backgrounds. Includes training, connections, and community — designed to support people on the periphery who want to go deeper.

• People Powered Day — Design and launch an annual day of recognition and activation for grassroots civic information leaders — volunteers, informal connectors, neighborhood correspondents — modeled on the idea of turning an existing calendar moment into something that makes people feel seen, activated, and part of something larger.

• Network Weaver Fund — Identify, fund, and support local "anchor/weavers" — connectors who can convene and sustain information steward networks in their communities — including people who want to stay informal. Explore funding models beyond dollars: time banking, mutual aid, peer support structures.

• Community Information Mapping — Build a methodology and tool for mapping the information stewardship ecosystem in a given community — who's doing what, where the gaps are, and where the assets are. Design for communities, not just researchers.

• New Spaces Lab — Explore and prototype alternatives to extractive platforms for connection and learning: online spaces NF controls, physical spaces modeled on folk schools and think tank culture (think a Highlander for civic information), and hybrid models that center trust and safety.

• Charter Translation for Community Work — Adapt NF's Charter and values for community-level contexts, making it usable for practitioners who don't come from journalism or media backgrounds. Produce simple, accessible language a level down from the Charter that people can use in their own communities.

Working Groups

Working Groups are focused, funded teams doing defined field-building work within one of News Futures’ five campaign areas. If you have a project in mind that could advance the field — and want the structure, support, and funding to make it real — this is your opportunity.

What Is a Working Group?

Working Groups bring together a small, committed team to tackle a specific challenge or opportunity within one of NF’s five campaign areas. Each group has a clear scope, a defined timeline, and the resources to do meaningful work — not just talk about it. Groups run on 12–18 month cycles, from July 2026 through December 2027.

Who Can Participate?

Working Groups are open to current News Futures Stewards and 2025–2026 Working Group Contributors — anyone who has participated in a Working Group to date. Each group has one primary Steward who holds the contract and leads the work; co-leads and additional team members are welcome.

How It Works

The primary Steward is responsible for coordinating contributors, with hands-on support from a dedicated NF staff member throughout the cycle. Groups operate with regular check-ins, clear deliverables, and a monthly or bi-monthly payment cadence. We’re limiting this cycle to fewer than five groups to ensure each one gets the support it deserves.

Funding & Support

• $25,000 per group

• Access to NF design, editing, and operational support throughout the cycle

• A dedicated NF staff member supporting each group

• Monthly or bi-monthly payment cadence

What Makes a Strong Proposal?

A strong proposal will have a clear connection to one of NF’s five campaign areas, a defined scope and deliverables, and a Steward with the capacity and commitment to lead the work. You don’t need to have everything figured out — but you should have a clear sense of the question you’re trying to answer and why it matters to the field.

Key Dates

• March 26: Submissions open at NF Live

• May 1: Submissions due

• By Sep 15: Working Groups launch

• Dec 2027: Cycle closes

How to Apply

Complete the Working Group proposal form, linked at the top of this document and shared at NF Live. Submissions are reviewed by NF staff with final selections informed by a community vote.

Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice are open, cohort-based spaces for News Futures Signatories to explore questions, provocations, and threads connected to NF’s five campaign areas — without the pressure of committing to a specific solution upfront.

What Is a Community of Practice?

A Community of Practice (CoP) is a gathering space for people who are curious about the same questions. CoPs run in 3–6 month cohorts, meeting monthly around shared themes tied to NF’s campaign areas. They’re lower barrier and higher flexibility than Working Groups, but no less valuable — a genuine contribution to the field, not a waiting room.

Who Can Participate?

Communities of Practice are open to any News Futures Signatory. No prior Working Group participation required.

How It Works

Each CoP has a Steward who holds the container: facilitating monthly gatherings, connecting members to NF’s campaign goals, and helping the cohort produce something meaningful by the end of the cycle. Cohorts run 3–6 months and are limited to fewer than five for the 2026–2027 cycle.

Stipends & Support

• Stipends up to $2,500 based on scope

• Access to NF operational support throughout the cohort

• Support from NF’s WG/CoP & Network Weaving Coordinator

What Makes a Strong Proposal?

A strong CoP proposal identifies a genuine question or thread worth exploring together, names a clear connection to one of NF’s five campaign areas, and has a Steward ready to facilitate with care. You don’t need a pre-formed cohort — NF will help connect interested members once groups are confirmed.

Key Dates

• March 26: Submissions open at NF Live

• May 1: Submissions due

• By Sep 15: Cohorts launch

• Dec 2027: Cycle closes

How to Apply

Complete the Community of Practice proposal form, linked at the top of this document and shared at NF Live. Submissions are reviewed by NF staff with final selections informed by a community vote.

Gardening Club

The News Futures Gardening Club (GC) is an elected, standing strategic committee tasked with shaping News Futures' strategy. Up to four seats are open this spring. If you're drawn to the big picture — and to supporting NF in making good decisions over the long term — we'd love to hear from you.

What Is the Gardening Club?

GC is not a formal governing board — it exists to support, not direct, staff. Its responsibilities include:

• Strategic work — GC takes on strategic questions as prioritized by stewards, staff, and GC members, and serves as a thought-partnership resource for the Executive Steward.

• Steward and Executive Steward affirmation — GC affirms — and can remove, if there's a code of conduct violation — News Futures Stewards, and vets and affirms the Executive Steward.

• Mission, pledge, and charter — GC hosts routine pledge discussions, affirms or updates the News Futures Pledge every two years, and affirms or updates the NF decision-making matrix once per term.

• GC membership — GC affirms incoming GC stewards (who must be elected by NF stewards). The Executive Steward(s) are included in GC membership.

• GC administration — GC elects at least one chair, conducts an annual self-review, and may enlist outside support as needed.

Who Can Run?

GC nominations are open to current NF Stewards and Contributors in good standing — anyone who has participated in a Working Group. Signatories who have signed the pledge but have not yet participated in a working group are not eligible at this time.

Up to four seats are open this spring. Elected members serve two-year terms from June 2026 through May 2028. GC is sized at 5–8 members total.

Stipends

Elected GC stewards will receive $2,000 per year. GC discusses and sets its own budget — including stipends — with NF staff each year.

What We're Looking For

You don't need to be an expert on everything NF does — you need to ask good questions and hold the long view. We're looking for some (not necessarily all) of the following:

• Background outside journalism

• Independent contractor or freelancer experience

• Succession planning or leadership transition experience

• Operations or organizational scaling experience

• Strategic thinking across complex systems

The Law of Two Hats

NF follows the Law of Two Hats: if you're interested in both GC and leading a Working Group, you'll need to choose one. Anyone leading a working group beyond June 1, 2026 will not move forward in the GC election process — though simply participating in a working group is fine. This policy ensures no one person holds too much of NF's decision-making and doing at the same time.

Current Members

• Lead Steward: Darryl Holliday

• Term ending December 2026: Mazin Sidahmed (Co-Chair), Adrienne Martin, John Davidow

• Term ending June 2026: Sonam Vashi (Co-Chair), Cassie Haynes, Courtney Lewis, Lizzy Hazeltine

Key Dates

• Now – Mar 25: Internal planning phase — GC nomination forms and guidance finalized

• Mar 26: NF Live — GC nominations announced and forms go live; May 1 submission deadline communicated

• Mar 26 – May 1: GC does direct outreach to prospective nominees; current GC hosts interest session; NF staff create a Slack channel for questions

• May 1: GC nominations due

• May 25–Jun 5: NF community votes on GC members — two full weeks to maximize participation

• By Jun 12: GC members notified and confirmed; NF Staff draft community announcement

• By July 1: GC onboards new members, term begins in August

• August 2026: Term begins
  

How to Nominate

Nominations can only be submitted by a current News Futures Steward — each Steward may nominate one person, including themselves. Submit using the GC Nomination Form by March 20, 2026.

If nominated, you'll complete a short Nominee Questionnaire by March 31. Current GC members will then create an election slate of at least five candidates; stewards vote April 20–30.

Questions? Reach out to Adrienne (adrienne.martin@mlk50.com) or Courtney (courtney@inn.org).