Indiegraf is proud to announce the 10 outlets accepted to the BIPOC Media Growth Program.
With funding from the Facebook Journalism Project, the BIPOC Media Growth Program will provide up to $25,000 in grants and support from Indiegraf to ten Canadian media projects owned or led by BIPOC journalists.
The recipients are:
- IndigiNews
- Inside Waterloo
- The Resolve
- Peterborough Currents
- Cold Tea Collective
- The Hoser
- Afros In Tha City
- The Weekly Rant
- Your Vitals
- How Goes the Nation
“Seeing the great work that Indiegraf has done with other publishers, we thought it would be a great opportunity to work together, especially as part of the BIPOC publishers program,” says Natasha Jung, the founder, executive producer and editor-in-chief of Cold Tea Collective.
This initial program marks the launch of Indie Capital, Indiegraf’s initiative that provides grants and flexible financing to promising independent news outlets to help fund their growth. Indie Capital will be launching new funding opportunities soon to support founders from across North America. Sign up for Indie Publisher to receive all our program updates.
The last year has seen major growth in independent journalists striking out on their own to start news outlets and fill community news gaps. Journalist-entrepreneurs are poised to play a significant role in solving the local news problem, but many struggle to access seed capital and build capacity to fuel their growth. The majority rely on personal savings and have to take on significant financial risk before their audiences and revenues can reach sustainability.
“If the only people who can afford to found independent news outlets are those with the networks and savings to raise capital, the future of news will replicate the same lack of diversity inherent in today’s problems of legacy media,” says Erin Millar, co-founder and CEO of Indiegraf. “This is why we created Indie Capital.”
In 2022, Indiegraf will announce new rounds of the BIPOC Media Growth Program, the Indie Growth Program and the Indie News Challenge.
Media contact: H.G. Watson, hgwatson@indiegraf.com
