Newsletter: Every Voice, Every Vote announces $1.8M grant program

June 16, 2026

Philadelphia is home to a diverse media ecosystem, where individual reporters and organizations of all sizes and business models each play a role in keeping communities informed. 

At The Lenfest Institute, we’re proud to support these efforts through funding, consulting, and other practical support, sharing what we learn along the way to help other media ecosystems grow and thrive.. 

In today’s issue of the newsletter, we’re sharing updates on some of our key efforts in Philadelphia. Today, we opened applications for the $1.8 million in funding for Every Voice, Every Vote, Philadelphia’s largest-ever collaborative journalism and community engagement effort. Earlier this month, we awarded $1 million to 10 local publishers as part of the Philadelphia Local News 2030 Initiative. 

Keep scrolling to learn more about these grant programs, along with updates from the Lenfest Communities of Practice. Thank you as always for your support of The Lenfest Institute, and please feel free to reply with any questions or feedback. And if a friend forwarded you this email, you can subscribe to our newsletter here. 

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Every Voice, Every Vote coalition launches two-year, $1.8M grant program to expand civic news and information efforts

Grant applications now open for media and community organizations

With Philadelphia’s municipal primaries less than a year away, Every Voice, Every Vote is today announcing the launch of a new, two-year, $1.8 million grant program to continue supporting in-depth local journalism on key issues and to catalyze civic action.

Every Voice, Every Vote is organized by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Lead support for the next phase of Every Voice, Every Vote is provided by the William Penn Foundation with additional funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Philadelphia Health Partnership, Judy and Peter Leone, and The Lenfest Institute. 

The citywide coalition was formed in 2023 to inform voters ahead of municipal elections, connect residents to local government, and track the progress of the city’s response to the issues Philadelphians deemed most important— including public safety, education, environmental, housing, and economic opportunity. The coalition, which consists of local media organizations, community organizations, and independent civic content creators, has become Philadelphia’s largest-ever collaborative journalism and community engagement effort. 

Applications for funding are now open through July 13 at 11:59 p.m. Media and community organizations can now apply for support for projects that: 

• Strengthen civic engagement by helping Philadelphians better understand and engage with the issues shaping their communities
• Build trust through locally rooted reporting, listening efforts, and community-informed conversations
• Reach new and underserved audiences through partnerships with trusted civic content creators and community voices.

Since its launch, Every Voice, Every Vote has expanded access to trusted information, engaged residents across Philadelphia, and strengthened civic participation through more than 365 civic engagement projects, content in more than 15 languages, and over 200 collaborations across media, community organizations, and civic news creators. In the past year, it created a Solutions Progress Report to track city policy initiatives and launched Community Conversations to bring together journalists, city leaders, and community members around key issues. 

Learn more and apply Learn more and apply

News and notes

• The Lenfest Institute recently launched the Philadelphia Local News 2030 Initiative, a new two-year, $1 million effort supporting 10 Philadelphia-area news organizations as they strengthen audience engagement, experiment with new business models, and adapt to a rapidly changing media landscape. The initiative, made possible through support from Knight Foundation, reflects what we continue to hear from local news leaders: funding matters, but so does access to practical support for experimentation, revenue diversification, digital transformation, and long-term sustainability.
  
  Congratulations to this year’s grantees working to strengthen the future of local journalism across the Philadelphia region: Impacto Media, Spotlight Delaware, Technical.ly, The Philadelphia Citizen, The Philadelphia Tribune, WURD Radio, FunTimes Magazine, Generocity, The Philadelphia Gay News, and The Trace. 

• A new report assessing the impact of five members of The Lenfest Institute’s Statewide News Collective confirms what we already see every day: even amid so many disruptions to the news industry, independent local journalism is making substantial contributions to civic life. Building on a previous study from 2024, Danny Hayes, professor at The George Washington University, surveyed both readers and non-readers in each state, measuring knowledge of local issues, civic and community engagement, and the real-world ramifications of specific news coverage.

• Join the Lenfest Audience Community tomorrow, June 17 at 1 p.m. EDT / 10 a.m. PDT. Ross Maghielse, deputy managing editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, joins us to share how the publication is building long-term loyalty in a highly competitive media landscape. Register to learn the strategies behind the Inquirer’s triple-digit subscription growth, reader revenue, and subscriber retention.

• Marketing your newsroom’s work is essential to securing support, building audiences, and advancing your mission. Ken Schneck, editor of The Buckeye Flame, joins the Lenfest News Philanthropy Network on June 25 at 3 p.m. EDT / 12 p.m. PDT to teach the art of “shameless self-promotion.” Back by popular demand after the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit, Ken will help participants strengthen their elevator pitch, identify barriers to self-promotion, and find the words that clearly communicate the uniqueness and fundability of their work.