We’re excited to catch you up on the News Ambassadors program and highlight the amazing work done by our partners and past trainees. If you care about strengthening communities and better supporting democracy, help us by following us on Instagram or Linkedin, donating or forwarding this newsletter to a friend. 

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📻One big story 📻 

This month, we’re sharing a Boise State Public Radio story about how a rural Idaho community came together to support neighbors impacted by ICE actions, after some were left shaken and afraid to leave their homes in the wake of an increase in raids and detentions.

The Idaho Organization of Resource Councils, ACLU of Idaho and two other local non-profits created the Idaho Familias Assistance Fund so that they could jointly fundraise to better meet urgent needs. Community members chipped in, holding a bake sale, silent auction, and fundraising concert with local bands. Money raised is providing resources for struggling neighbors, including help with legal fees, rent, utilities and groceries. The effort has raised more than $84,000 so far, first helping several dozen local families and then expanding to address needs statewide.

Why we like it: As fans of Complicating the Narratives strategies, we like to see stories that amplify the complex and nuanced realities of American communities. This historically conservative community doesn’t fit the oversimplified stereotype of where rural and “red-state” communities are assumed to fall within the immigration debate. The town has a large Latino population, and many local farmers have migrant workers on their farms. The many people and non-profits that mobilized to protect something important to them locally – in this case, their neighbors - made clear how much this story matters to local residents. Esquivel’s reporting also included realistic limitations, since even robust fundraising doesn’t address the emotional toll facing families, such as fear of racial profiling and trauma from family separation. 

Broader context: About an hour west of Boise, Wilder is a peaceful farming town, best known for growing hops, a main ingredient in beer. It is home to around 1,700 people. Last October, Boise State Public Radio reported when a mix of 200 federal and state officers descended upon the community, taking into custody five people on a warrant for alleged gambling. In the same operation, officers also detained more than 100 additional bystanders for immigration violations, including some children separated from their parents. Many detainees were primary breadwinners for their families, leaving dependents with no way to pay bills.  

Tip: For solutions lens stories about how people are responding to problems, we encourage reporters to dig into HOW the response works - including what tools and processes they used, and what insight might help folks think about applying a similar response in other areas. 

Reporter Monica Esquivel was in News Ambassasors’ fall 2025 Public Media Journalists Association training cohort.

📣Listen to her full story here. 📣

✨Resource Spotlight✨ 

Looking for new ways to think about community-centered news? Or how you might explain “civic media” to someone who has never heard the term? Check out The Civic Media Cookbook from News Futures! It’s a collaborative resource that shares examples of how journalists, organizers, educators, and civic leaders are building more community-driven information systems. The project is designed to translate the principles of civic media into accessible, real-world examples - or “recipes” -that others can learn from and adapt in their own communities. News Futures is helping shape the future of local news and civic media, weaving in community engagement throughout. News Ambassadors Director Shia Levitt was a delegate to the 2026 News Futures convention and is one of many contributors to the book.

📖 What We Are Reading 📖

Newsrooms that work with marginalized or “hard-to-reach” communities can learn a lot from the insights and methods in Oakland-based El Tímpano’s recently published a Civic Partnerships Playbook. Before starting to report stories, El Tímpano spent close to a year doing community listening and engagement efforts to better understand local information needs and news consumption habits of Oakland’s Latino and Maya Mam population. This research helped them decide on a bilingual text-only platform to reach their local audience. Among those who do engagement work, the civic media organization is a role model for its ability to respond to the specific needs of those they serve. (News Ambassadors learned to appreciate this through the Listening Post Collective’s Civic Media Playbook, back when we were an LPC grantee.) They’ve earned not only trust, but growing financial sustainability to continue their work. As a companion piece, founder Madeleine Bair wrote this piece for Poynter about how audience trust can help fund journalism.

📆 Upcoming Events/Opportunities 📆

This month’s opportunities include several for journalists, journalism students, recent grads and journalism job seekers as well as opportunities for newsrooms and adjacent resources.

Journalism Job Seekers: Check out the May Journalism jobs from Rebecca Aguilar’s Calling All Journalists list!  

Need funding for your next big health story? Apply by May 12 to USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism Impact Fund for up to $10K in reporting grants. »Apply HERE«

Mental Health Awareness Month Leadership & Well-being Resources:         As journalism leaders and organizations continue conversations around newsroom well-being, sustainability, and psychological safety, American Press Institute’s Samantha Ragland has resources focused on supporting healthier newsroom cultures via these upcoming webinars: Trauma-informed leadership: May 19 @ 1pm ET/10amPT  »Register HERE« Psychological Safety as a Tool for Collaboration: May 26 @ 1pm ET/ 10 am PT »Register HERE«

Center for Cooperative Media is hosting their 10th annual Collaborative Journalism Summit, May 14 and 15 in Philadelphia. »Learn more and Register HERE«

How can libraries engage communities with civic information and storytelling? Learn more about the Library Newsroom Project, which teaches journalism to community members via local libraries! This event is hosted by AEJMC and part of a series of events leading up to their conference in New Orleans. Join others on May 21st @12 noon ET/ 9 am PT. »Register HERE«

Engagement Strategies for Bringing Solutions Reporting to the Community: Learn about creative ways the Advancing Democracy grantees are using to strengthen community engagement and bring solutions reporting directly to audiences that are often overlooked. »Register HERE for May 21 2026 @1pm ET/10am PT«

Solutions Journalism Network is hosting monthly Intro to Solutions Journalism trainings, events and opportunities. FREE offerings are on their Events page. Next trainings: June 16 and July 7 @9am ET/6am PT »Register HERE for June 16 2026 @9am ET/6am PT training« »Register HERE for July 7 2026 @9am ET/6am PT training«

Engaged journalism meetup on building trust with underserved communities: Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) is hosting a meetup bringing together public media journalists interested in community-centered reporting and engagement strategies that focus on building meaningful relationships with underserved communities. »Register HERE for the June 9 2026 event @4pm ET/1pm PT«

Public Media journalists: The PMJA + Now Series will bring journalists together across four cities to create four in-person events for hands-on learning that focuses  on newsroom operations, combining AI and tech, storytelling and community-centered journalism. Indianapolis, IN: August 26, 2026 »Learn more HERE« New York City: September 9, 2026 » Learn more HERE« Austin, TX: February 23, 2027* »Learn more HERE« San Francisco, CA: March 9, 2027* »Learn more HERE«

That’s all for this month!

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