Giving citizens a voice in every community.
Community News in the New Media Landscape
Community newspapers helped build America by giving citizens a voice, celebrating local heroes, and holding government accountable.
The Community News Foundation is working to restore community news through modern platforms that make local news possible again.
Become a Community Newsmaker®
Community Newsmakers help define their communities by pitching news into our system.
Is there a cause or event you want reported?
Are there local citizens who deserve recognition? Promote your community with a free newsmaker license.
Get Your Free Community Newsmaker® License
The Community News Foundation funds a free portal for every citizen with a story to tell.
What’s Happening in Your Community?
The Community News Foundation helps fund more than 1,300 community news sites and print newspapers in all 50 states.
Community newsmakers can see the news site in their community when they obtain a license to pitch stories on the Community Newsmaker portal. Published stories are also emailed to the newsmakers, who can share them with others.
FAQ
What is the Community News Foundation?
The Community News Foundation is a non-profit organization to help restore local news in communities across America. It funds CommunityNewsmaker.com, a portal where any citizen can pitch news about his or her community. Every article is written by professional journalists and published on a local news site.
Who writes the stories?
The Community News Foundation helps fund hundreds of freelance reporters around the country who adhere to strict journalistic standards - no political bias or favoritism, no unnamed sources, and a commitment to reporting only facts.
How is the Community News Foundation funded?
We are funded by donations and grants from contributors who care about restoring local news in their communities. Every donor accepts our approach, which is to empower individual citizens to become newsmakers in their community through the Community Newsmaker portal.
What is the relationship between the Community News Foundation and other news operations?
The Community News Foundation maintains agreements with numerous vendors to produce stories and help operate the Community Newsmaker platform. Vendors must adhere to the foundation’s obligation under IRS rules to avoid partisan political purposes.
Does the Community News Foundation grant interviews?
We use this website as the most efficient way to provide media with information about our mission. Requests for information not provided here may be sent to Inquiry@CommunityNewsmaker.org.
Board of Directors
DR. RAKESH DONTHINENI, CHAIRMAN
Dr. Donthineni is a San Francisco-based investor and donor with particular interest in health, medicine, and civic engagement. He is a practicing spine, orthopedic, and oncology surgeon, and founded the Bone Cancer Foundation in Sacramento, CA. He is a former associate professor of orthopedic oncology at the University of California, Davis, UC San Diego, and the University of Pennsylvania.
VICTOR CHEN
Mr. Chen is a Los Angeles-based technology entrepreneur and investor with particular interest in digital media. He formerly served as a senior media platform engineer for Disney, IBM and other companies, and was a reporter for Beijing TV China. He holds Master’s Degrees in Digital Video Communication and Image Compression from MIT, and a degree in Electrical Engineering, TV and Video System Design from Beijing Polytechnic University. He is a naturalized US citizen.
BRENT SOUTHWELL
Mr. Southwell is a Houston-based philanthropic donor with particular interest in education and civic engagement. He is a trained accountant, and founder and Chairman of PJS of Houston, a large independent commercial cleaning firm in Texas.
SHONDA WERRY
Shonda Werry is the founder of a political research and writing firm that focuses on the U.S. Constitution and America's other founding documents. She serves on the board of directors for Ukraine Orphan Outreach, and founded C.O.A.T.S. International to serve orphans and at-risk children in the former Soviet Union. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago, and earned a Master’s Degree from Johns Hopkins University.