This piece is part of our spring 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 our most recent Showcase story, “How Documenters Are Transforming Community Reporting Around the Country.”
We’re kicking off our 9th year of Documenters with two new newsroom partners.
By Max Resnik, Director of Growth for Documenters
We’re excited to welcome two new newsrooms in two new states into our growing network of participatory civic media!
Columbia Gorge Documenters, powered by Uplift Local
More than 120 public meetings take place across the Columbia Gorge region each month. From Skamania County’s Noxious Weed Board to the City Council of White Salmon, local elected officials and appointed residents gather to deliberate and make decisions that impact this rural area on the Oregon and Washington State border. The eight full-time journalists covering this four-county region estimate that fewer than a third of these meetings receive any news coverage.
Enter the Columbia Gorge Documenters. With deep roots in community listening, the Uplift Local team is designing multilingual news resources that meet rural information needs. By training and paying residents to document these previously uncovered meetings, they're creating essential records that make local democracy more transparent and accessible to their communities.
Tulsa Documenters, powered by the Tulsa Local News Initiative
In preparation to launch the Tulsa Local News Initiative, a team of 11 community ambassadors spoke to nearly 350 Tulsans across 49 zip codes through direct interviews, focus groups, and surveys. Built on an initial investment of $14 million, this initiative will create nearly two dozen local jobs while grounding journalism in community connection and civic engagement.
This collaborative project will expand the Oklahoma Eagle, launch a new newsroom, and strengthen capacity at The Frontier, KOSU, La Semana, and Focus: Black Oklahoma. Documenters work will help knit together this local coalition, creating a space where residents and reporters work side by side to promote greater transparency within local government while equipping people with practical civic skills.
Over the past nine years, we’ve been so lucky to build and learn with partners in 25 communities across 16 states. Interested in bringing Documenters to your community or learning about partnership opportunities? Reach out to network@citybureau.org!
To learn more about City Bureau’s growing Documenters Network and how to get involved, check out Documenters.org.
