Building momentum through peer exchange, shared learning, and people-powered innovation across the Documenters Network.
By Navjot Heer & Maja Stina Sunleaf
(Peer exchange visit between Detroit Outlier Media, Dallas Free Press, and Indianapolis Mirror Indy Documenters.)
This piece is part of our Documenters Showcase—a content series spotlighting the stories, impact, and growing network of people and organizations around the U.S. shaping participatory media and turning civic information into community power as part of City Bureau’s Documenters Network. Check out Part 1 of “What We’re Learning from Documenters Programs Across the Country.”
If there’s one thing that defines the Documenters Network, it’s collaboration in action. This past year, site teams have been traveling across the country to learn from one another–swapping ideas, building partnerships, and strengthening the fabric of people-powered journalism. Building off Part 1 of “What We’re Learning from Documenters Programs Across the Country,” we wanted to highlight some more peer exchange visits that demonstrate how local programs are growing their impact through creativity, connection, and care.
Detroit Hosts Dallas and Indianapolis
Continuing the host-to-visitor tradition, the Dallas Documenters team traveled to Detroit to learn from one of the network’s most established programs. Their visit focused on how Detroit and Dallas Documenters are investing in community outreach and how Detroit-based coordinators Noah Kincade and Lynelle Herndon are building programs where Documenters help shape the work itself, deeply integrating into Outlier Media’s newsroom.
During the trip, visitors joined Detroit Documenters for an in-person gathering, where attendees connected over sandwiches and Detroit’s signature drinks–Vernors and Red Pop. Together, they added sticky notes to the wall and reflected on how they heard about the event, community norms they’d like to see practiced, and opportunities to get more involved in the future.
The group also explored how the Detroit team is creating assignments that go beyond traditional meeting coverage. Detroit staff highlighted creative ways for programs to align community needs and Documenters’ interests. Standout examples included “Documenters on the Bus,” where Documenters surveyed the state of the Detroit bus system from a rider’s perspective, and a phone-banking assignment that helped Detroit residents claim money owed to them by the county. These impactful examples illustrate how civic participation can mobilize tangible change.
Visitors met with local partners like Jerome Vaughn, News Director at WDET Public Radio, where Detroit Documenters have a regular Friday segment. A lively “ask me anything” conversation evolved into a deeper conversation about public radio, community building, and parallels between the media landscapes in Dallas and Detroit.
“These partnerships are so valuable because they provide everything from locations for Documenters events, to editorial collaborations, to opportunities for Docs to engage and create community. Detroit and Dallas Docs are finding innovative ways to engrain their programs in their communities and spread the greatness of Documenters.”
The trip wrapped up with a conversation and tour with Jack Filbrandt from WDET, who discussed the origins of the “Documenters on the Bus” special assignment. He gave visitors a firsthand look into Detroit’s neighborhoods, its local history, and how passionate residents are about making their city a better place.
(Peer exchange visit between Signal Cleveland and Detroit Outlier Media Documenters.)
Cleveland Hosts Detroit
Detroit took their turn on the road, this time to Ohio, to meet with Signal Cleveland’s Documenters. Maja and Rachel Birkhahn-Rommelfanger (Chicago Documenters Director) joined the exchange, which brought together three of the network’s longest-running Documenters programs. The goal of the trip was to share experiences, innovations, and hopes for the future of the program.
The visit began with a “day in the life” of the Signal Cleveland newsroom, where the team sat in on the weekly Integration Meeting. This standing conversation between Documenters and editorial staff is where breadcrumbs found in Documenters notes turn into potential story leads–a model of collaboration that connects civic observation directly to journalism. Later, the teams met with journalist Rachel Dissell, who has led Cleveland’s special assignments since 2021. She walked them through the full process, from assignment creation to follow-up reporting, and showed how Documenters are actively involved every step of the way.
The group then traveled to Akron to visit the Signal Akron newsroom, enjoying lunch overlooking the water while discussing program lead Kevin Dilley’s outreach strategies, innovations in text services for both Documenters and city residents, and stories from local Documenters covering government meetings.
The peer exchange ended on a fun note with a group field trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to visit local legend, Lancelot the Porcupine. Amid laughs and learning, conversations turned to inclusive language choices and copy editing best practices.
“The biggest takeaway from these visits is the value in spending time with other people who are as immersed in this work as we are.”
And that value quickly translated into action. During a post-trip debrief, Cleveland and Detroit shared that they had already put into practice ideas from the peer exchange. In Cleveland, the team launched their first audio role in June 2025 and all Signal sites (Cleveland, Akron, Cincinnati) are now running audio assignments. Using insights from Cleveland, Detroit refined their own Documenters Field Guide to better answer questions and share about the program. They also integrated a “Discovered by Documenters” tag on all Outlier Media news stories that originated from Documenters’ notes.
Building Toward the Documenters Summit
With a network of sites spread across the country, creating intentional touchpoints and multiple pathways to learn, collaborate, and innovate is crucial. Peer exchanges allow staff to refine tools and weave new ideas into their existing programs, helping to create a stronger, self-sustaining civic media ecosystem that is powered by people in the places they care about most. All of these gatherings and moments to connect created momentum toward the Documenters Network Summit in Chicago in October 2025, where our civic champions from across 20+ sites built a more connected network, advanced our shared work, and supported our community of 4,500+ trained Documenters. Stay tuned for more stories from the network and highlights from the Documenters Summit!
Want to learn more about City Bureau’s growing Documenters Network? Check out Documenters.org.
