Chicago Documenters
Grassroots, Participatory Media by and for Chicagoans
Making Local Government
Accountable & Transparent
Chicago Documenters is our local hub for civic action and public oversight of local government through local media.
We train and pay Chicagoans like you to attend public meetings and publish the results via our free, daily digest—the Newswire, powered by Chicago Documenters and edited by City Bureau staff—and our custom web app, Documenters.org.
Anyone can become a Documenter by filling out a Documenters application and attending a Documenters orientation.
Become a Chicago Documenter
Chicago Documenters participate in a range of City Bureau projects, including, but not limited to attending and documenting public governance meetings and civic events and engaging in projects designed to increase the role of reporting and storytelling in public discourse. Documenters are paid and their work is used by journalists, organizers, researchers and more.
All Chicago Documenters content is available under Creative Commons, ensuring everyone has access to the information they need.
Civic Reporting
Chicago Documenters pays community members to cover local government meetings. This community-powered reporting, written reports and multimedia is, in many cases, the most complete record of consequential local policy decisions—all of it produced by trained community members and edited by Documenters Network staff and amplified through our Newswire newsletter
Free Public workshops
Gain new skills and opportunities! Any Chicago resident can
Attend an orientation in your area to become eligible for paid assignments.
Attend trainings to obtain new skills and badges.
Produce service-oriented reporting in collaboration with journalists
Community Resources
Chicago Documenters is building new civic infrastructure that is asset-based and community-focused by hosting:
Free workshops and social events
Online community discussion boards
Participatory technology made by and for people like you
The Newswire, A New Public Record
What happens in local government meetings affects our everyday life, but there are so many, hosted by all different agencies, it’s hard to keep up with all of them.
Get daily summaries of the most recent public meetings in Chicago and Cook County through the Newswire, powered by Chicago Documenters. This digest highlights multimedia Documenters coverage and live-tweet threads, plus upcoming meeting details, official records and ways to get civically involved in the city you love. Together we’re creating a new public record to shine a light on decisions being made in our city.
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Products & Projects
Become a Chicago Documenter
Chicago Documenters participate in a range of City Bureau projects, including, but not limited to attending and documenting public governance meetings and civic events and engaging in projects designed to increase the role of reporting and storytelling in public discourse. Documenters are paid and their work is used by journalists, organizers, researchers and more.
All Chicago Documenters content is available under Creative Commons, ensuring everyone has access to the information they need.