The Granite State News Collaborative is thrilled to announce that it has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Couch Family Foundation. The grant will be used in part to support the Collaborative's multi-year initiative examining race and equity in New Hampshire.
GSNC is a collective of more than 20 local media, education, and community partners working together to produce and share news stories on the issues that most impact the state. The Collaborative partners aim to provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than they could individually.
In 2020, The Collaborative and its partners launched a multiyear Race and Equity Initiative that aims to: highlight the stories of people of color in New Hampshire, partner with them to amplify their voices, investigate the policies and systems in place that have had disproportionately negative impacts on these members of our New Hampshire community and surface potential solutions. This examination also includes analyzing the impact of these systems on other historically marginalized communities including those living in poverty and rural communities.
Focus areas of the initiative include access to civic engagement, affordable housing, economic opportunity, education, environmental justice, health, policing/criminal justice and arts and culture.
"We are excited to receive this grant from the Couch Family Foundation," said Melanie Plenda, Director of The Granite State News Collaborative. "This support will enable us to hire experienced investigative freelance print, audio, video, and photo journalists and editors to produce in-depth, rigorously reported story packages and series relative to our project."
GSNC will use these funds to hire experienced investigative freelance print, audio, video, and photo journalists and editors to produce in-depth, rigorously reported story packages and series relative to the initiative. They will also employ a data editor to help compile data which will inform projects and will be made available to the public for free to download. Additionally, the Collaborative will continue to offer project management and coordination services to ensure that the work is done and distributed across myriad networks in order to reach the most people.
The Granite State News Collaborative and its partners believe that together they can provide more information to more communities across New Hampshire than they could individually. This grant from the Couch Family Foundation is a significant step towards achieving that goal.
The Couch Family Foundation's mission is to be a catalyst for change in the lives of children and their families by creating quality and equitable opportunities to help them learn, thrive, and lead healthy, fulfilling lives. The Couch Family Foundation partners with organizations serving the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire and Vermont to support people and programs working to improve children’s health and well-being, early learning and development, family resiliency, and community vibrancy.
GSNC partners include: 603 Diversity; The Berlin Daily Sun, Business NH Magazine, The Business Journal of Greater Keene, Brattleboro and Peterborough, The Concord Monitor, The Conway Daily Sun, The Eagle Times, The Eagle-Tribune, The Keene Sentinel, The Laconia Daily Sun, Manchester Ink Link, The Marlin Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce University, The Nashua Telegraph, NH Bar News, NH Business Review, New Hampshire Press Association, New Hampshire PBS, NH Public Radio, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Seacoast Media Group and The Valley News.
For inquiries, please contact:
Melanie Plenda, Director of The Granite State News Collaborative
Email: melanie@collaborativenh.org
Phone: (603) 762-3302