Welcome to the new Lenfest Institute website

We redesigned our site to make it easier for the communities we serve to connect with the Institute, connect with other leaders in the field, and connect with tools and resources.

By Joseph Lichterman

October 24, 2023

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism is a connector.

The Institute brings people together to develop solutions for the next era of local journalism.

In Philadelphia, we support sustainable solutions for publishers and media entrepreneurs to ensure residents are connected to their communities and have access to the information they need to flourish. We’ve created Communities of Practice to bring together peers to share knowledge, offer mentorship, and receive coaching. And we convene individual donors and institutional funders to further advance our mission of advancing local journalism in the name of democracy.

That ethos is at the heart of our new website and branding, which is debuting today.

We undertook this project to make it easier for the communities we serve to connect with the Institute, connect with other leaders in the field, and connect with tools and resources.

Here’s just a sample of what you can find today on our new site:

• In our new Solutions & Resource Index, a curated collection of best practices and tools for local publishers, we’re thrilled to publish a guide for how local newsrooms can utilize TikTok to reach new audiences by Baltimore Banner Audience Engagement Editor Krishna Sharma. We’ll continue to update the Index with new resources created by the Institute and by our friends and partners, so check back or subscribe to our Solution Set newsletter to stay up-to-date.
• We regularly host in-person and virtual convenings to bring together the brightest minds working to transform local journalism in the United States. Our new Events page makes it easy to find out how to join us for gatherings. Up next: The Reimagining Philadelphia Journalism Summit on Nov. 13 and 14, where we’ll engage the local journalism community to have candid conversations about tangible plans to make local news more equitable and inclusive. Like all our events, the Summit is free to attend.
• News about how The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, a joint venture of the Institute and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is supporting Resolve Philly’s Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative, a new citywide journalism initiative.
• Our work is powered by private philanthropy. Supporters help ensure local journalism is sustainable and can meet the needs of local communities across the country. We’ve made it much easier to learn about how you can join our mission and have highlighted stories of impact to showcase how Institute grantees and partners are making a difference. You won’t want to miss the story of how the Every Voice, Every Vote coalition is connecting news organizations, community groups, and Philadelphia citizens in advance of the November 7 election.

We have much more planned in the days and weeks ahead.

We’re excited by the possibilities that our new platforms will afford us the opportunity to tell the stories of our grantees and partners and invite more people into the work. We’re also excited by the bold colors and photos that feature in the design of our new website, newsletters, and other platforms. While, of course, we think they look nice, the design — created by our brilliant partners at Wide Eye Creative — is meant to be a subtle reminder of the Institute’s role as a connector and ecosystem builder.

We bring people together to turn big ideas into practice to build solutions for the next era of local journalism that benefits everyone.

We hope you’ll join us on this mission.

Photo by Hannah Yoon