2018 Data Fellowship Community Engagement Grant Application Survey

The USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism is offering up to three special community engagement grants to 2018 Data Fellows from California. Each grantee will receive $1,000 to $2,000 to support their community engagement efforts, as well as mentoring on engagement strategies over six months. Interested reporters can learn more about the grant program by reading this blog post.

We have piloted these efforts with reporters from all over the country with exciting results. Past projects include: a collaborative effort between newsrooms and nonprofits in Arizona to prevent infant deaths and injuries in poorly installed car seats; a series of listening strategies to engage teens in a series on sex education; a youth-led community forum and video about the impact of violence on one Baltimore neighborhood; and a crowdsourcing campaign to incorporate community perspectives about a physician shortage.

Please click SUBMIT when you're done.

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* 1. What is your name?

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* 2. What is your media outlet?

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* 3. What community is most affected by the issues of your reporting? Be very specific.

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* 4. Your engagement project connects this community to your journalism in some way. How will you do that? Check out some common approaches below and choose all that apply to your idea. If you don't see your engagement idea reflected in any of the options, explain in the next question.

I plan to crowdsource stories and voices to help me report my story. Examples: KVPR’s on-air call-out and Vox’s online form.

I plan to ask and answer questions from the community that will inform my reporting and their lives. Example: Hearken.

I plan to figure out how people get and share information to help inform my project. Examples: The use of Facebook groups in ProPublica’s Agent Orange investigation and Jay Price's approach to finding his reporting community.

I plan to identify a community member or community members to co-report a story with me. Example: This Boise State Public Radio story.

I plan to identify a community member or community members to tell their own stories alongside my project. Example: These conversations about birth complications as part of ProPublica’s Lost Mothers reporting.

I plan to form an advisory group made of up of community members to inform my project. Example: The Peoria Journal Star reader advisory group.

I plan to provide a space — either digitally or in real life — to give community members an opportunity to speak for themselves as it pertains to my project. Example: The Storybooth that was part of Capital Public Radio’s Hidden Hunger project.

I plan to partner with an artist to create artwork related to my project. Example: WDET’s Framed.

I plan to facilitate a conversation with community members to learn more about my topic and inform the reporting. Examples: The Jefferson Center’s Informed Citizen Akron and Your Vote Ohio and KPCC’s Feeding the Conversation events.

Other (please specify)

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* 5. This is your chance to tell us about your engagement idea. Elaborate on the approaches you chose above. What goal does it serve? Who is going to help you do this and what ways might you collaborate? Name those individuals and institutions — schools, neighborhood groups, houses of worship, etc. Tell us how you'll engage people throughout the lifecycle of your project: How will people participate before you begin reporting, during your reporting process, afterward and beyond?

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* 6. How would you plan to spend the $1,000 to $2,000 grant for community engagement? Specify how much you are seeking, and tell us how you would spend it. Write a sample budget, if you can.

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* 7. How might engagement contribute to the impact of your journalism? How might you and the people you engage assess the engagement project's success? Read how reporters Kate Long, Bob Ortega and Mackenzie Mays paired community collaborations with reporting to create impact.

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* 8. What commitment can your newsroom and editors make in support of this project? If you’re a freelancer, please summarize any discussions you’ve had with your sponsoring media outlet about what support it can provide.

Thank you. We will announce the recipients of these grants soon after we announce our Data Fellows.

Please click SUMBIT to complete your application.