Making the case at the LION Southeast Meetup

Last week, I was so honored to get to serve on a panel at LION: Local Independent Online News Publishers's Southeast Meetup with Maritza L. Félix from Conecta Arizona, and Alyzza May from Scalawag. Our session was called "Making the Case" and was focused on how non-traditional newsrooms make the case to funders, journalists, and their community that their work is valid and worth investing in.

It's always been a bit of a challenge to make the case nationally for CivicLex. Our non-traditional model that looks at strengthening civic health in a multi-faceted way is unusual for many folks. I've talked about this before, but I/we often feel alone out in the field. When we go to meetups focused on journalism, we feel out of place because reporting is only a slice of our work - not the whole thing. When we're at bridging/pluralism gatherings, we feel out of place because we focus so much on civic information. It goes on and on. But here at home, our solution feels right-sized and designed to address what our community needs.

It was so nice to connect with other folks that have felt like they had to "make the case", learn about the amazing work that my co-panelists do every day, and get to answer some thoughtful questions about what we're up to here in KY.

On a side note, I feel like I just need to give LION a huge shout out. We've been a member for awhile now, and having just wrapped up our Sustainability Audit, I just can't emphasize how essential their support has been for us. The audit was incredibly illuminating, showed us some areas to address, and reinforced that we should confidently lean into our unique model. The subsequent implementation support is going to allow us to keep working with our auditor Bene Cipolla, and launch the first-ever Information Needs Assessment in Lexington as we look to significantly increase our newsroom capacity. PLUS we're going to be able to make some needed investments in our operations planning. None of this would be possible without LION!

Big thanks to Lisa Heyamoto for asking me to join this panel, and to Chris Krewson and everyone at LION for building such an important support for the field.