The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, also known as Wisconsin Watch, are finalists for the national Community Engagement Award by LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers.
The two newsrooms created News414, a project filling information and accountability gaps to meet the needs of traditionally underserved Milwaukee residents in Black-and-brown-majority neighborhoods. News414 covers topics including housing, food access, public health, substance use and voting.
The winner of the awards will be announced next month.
Recognizing the power of the two newsrooms’ partnership, the American Journalism Project has jointly been awarded a major capacity-building grant to support their efforts to reshape the local news ecosystem in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin.
The grant will build revenue and operations teams at both nonprofit newsrooms to support the expansion of journalism that represents, informs and engages local communities.
The editorially independent NNS is housed in the Diederich College of Communication and receives tremendous in-kind support from throughout the university.
The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism also has offices in Johnston Hall as part of the partnership.
