On June 22, the Knight Foundation announced the first 24 organizations to receive support from its $2 million, three-year technology initiative to strengthen digital publishing solutions in newsrooms.
Grand Rapids Community Media Center (CMC) is excited to be one of the 24 agencies selected to receive this funding, which will help launch a multi-step project to customize The Rapidian’s interactive online news platform.
More than 11 years ago, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation was instrumental in funding The Rapidian’s debut. Since then, The Rapidian has been the optimal platform for accessible, online citizen journalism in Grand Rapids. More than 6,000 individual users have logged in over the years, with around 18,000 articles submitted to The Rapidian.
“The Knight Foundation was instrumental in establishing The Rapidian as among the very first citizen journalism projects in the country,” said CMC Executive Director Linda Gellasch. “Now more than 10 years old, this online community platform is ready for an updated and sustainable publishing site, and the Knight Foundation has again stepped forward to help make that happen for Grand Rapids.”
The new platform will be developed in stages, and will offer an improved user experience for citizen journalists to upload content, for editors to review and approve content, and for even more local consumers to read and interact with articles, photographs, opinions and stories.
CMC is dedicated to continuing to provide The Rapidian as a unique platform for community interaction and information. The changes made possible by the Knight Foundation funding will help the people of Grand Rapids in more effectively capturing and sharing the news of our vibrant city.
The Rapidian, a program of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Community Media Center, relies on the community’s support to help cover the cost of training reporters and publishing content.
We need your help.
If each of our readers and content creators who values this community platform help support its creation and maintenance, The Rapidian can continue to educate and facilitate a conversation around issues for years to come.
Please support The Rapidian and make a contribution today.