A decade of community-powered journalism innovation has brought us here. This strategic plan charts the path forward—rooted in Chicago, expanding nationally, and driven by a core belief: journalism is an everyday civic act for everyone.
City Bureau’s Next Chapter
We’re charting a new path forward—and we’re uniquely positioned to do it.
City Bureau has always been powered by deep inquiry and imagination. As we approached our 10th anniversary and began planning our next chapter, we found ourselves at a pivotal juncture—asking who we are, why we exist, and what this moment demands of us.
A decade ago, our four co-founders also came together with a set of shared questions: What if we could do journalism entirely differently? What if community members helped create the information their neighborhoods need? They started small—with editor’s office hours in coffee shops, a Kickstarter to launch a new kind of fellowship, and gatherings designed to spark dialogue between journalists and residents.
What began as local experiments has grown into something else: national infrastructure for people-powered journalism, grounded in local practice not just in our hometown of Chicago but in communities across the country. Our work has produced real-world impacts: we have trained 175+ emerging journalists and civic leaders through our Civic Reporting Fellowship, hosted more than 170 Public Newsrooms on issues from lead pipe contamination to disability services in schools, and paid more than $1 million to community members to cover thousands of public meetings in 20+ communities—and growing.
City Bureau has become both rooted deeply in Chicago and national in scale. This Chicago-national relationship is a feature that we built deliberately—each makes the other stronger. That combination is rare—and full of possibility.
So when we began this strategic planning process, we asked new questions.
What can we uniquely do with our ability to innovate deeply in Chicago and build national infrastructure for participatory media? What information do people truly need—and how do we ensure they can find it, use it, and can act on it? In an era of AI, misinformation, and information overload, how do we put people back at the center of civic life?
These questions came into stark relief last fall, when heavily armed federal agents swarmed neighborhoods in Chicago and other cities. Alongside other newsrooms, organizers, and neighbors, we sprang into action both locally and nationally. We created know-your-rights guides in English and Spanish; trained people to document ICE activity; published reporting that held local officials accountable for their response to ICE raids; and activated our network to share resources across the country.
All around us, we watched neighbors move information through group chats, church basements, and school pickup lines—packing whistle kits, escorting children, and sharing updates in real time. Information moved person to person, in ways that mattered immediately.
That is civic media in action. That is what we’re building at scale. And I am excited to share our road map with you.
Our plan is clear: we will serve not just as a witness but also as a catalyst for civic action.
We are radically reimagining journalism as an everyday civic act—something people can do for themselves, rooted in community, and in service of the information people need to navigate their lives. We will continue to fundamentally shift how information is created and who makes it. And now, we are also refocusing on how information is shared—equipping people with the civic skills to find, verify, and share information in ways that move communities to action.
And critically, this is the first strategic plan where we are unlocking the possibilities of scale and fully leveraging the dynamic relationship between our local innovation in Chicago and national work to build something new. It leans into Chicago as our civic media lab; what we build and learn in Chicago strengthens the national network. And innovations travel across sites, take root in new local contexts, and what emerges in communities from Dallas to Detroit sharpens what we do in Chicago. This ongoing exchange—between Chicago and the network, and among network sites themselves—is the core of our model and what makes us different.
As I take on the executive director role and commit to City Bureau’s future, I do so with immense confidence and anticipation. I see every day how our staff, board, and partners create new ways for people to participate in journalism and civic life. We are ready to write the next chapter—building transformative practices and infrastructure that change the game and create an equitable, people-powered information system. Your investment, partnership, and support are vital to realizing this ambitious vision.
Now is the time. Let’s write what comes next, together.
Jody Chong
Executive Director
Join Us
The stakes for our work have never been higher. More than ever, we need people-powered journalism that gives all of us the information we need to navigate our lives and actively shape our democracy—together. Join us in building a more informed, connected, and democratic future.
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Your gift ensures communities across the nation can rely on the work of Documenters and journalists at City Bureau. You can donate right now at citybureau.org/donate, or reach out to Ruth Meberg at ruth@citybureau.org for more ways to give. Thank you!
