Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk wins $100,000 grant from Press Forward

Nov. 4, 2024

The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, has won a $100,000 grant in the first round of funding from Press Forward, a national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news.

More than 900 newsrooms nationwide applied for the funds, and 205 were selected. The funds will provide general operating support to newsrooms that are reaching underserved communities and addressing gaps in coverage. The Desk, in providing its reporting free of charge to news organizations through a network of reporters and partner newsrooms, offers local environmental journalism that can otherwise be hard to come by in rural communities.

"For people living in the largest watershed in the country, local reporting about land and water is too often missing," said Sara Shipley Hiles, executive director of the Desk and a professor at the Missouri School of Journalism. "For them, 'news desert' takes on a new meaning. Our job is to turn those deserts into oases where fact-based, locally informed coverage of the environment is readily available."

The grant is part of Press Forward's $500 million investment to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale the infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. It comes on the heels of an expansion of the Desk earlier this year, with 11 new journalists and newsrooms joining the ranks of the Report for America corps members who report for the Desk in 10 states. It also follows a recent award in which School of Journalism students contributing to the Desk took first place in a national Online News Association contest.

The awards reflect the Desk's capacity for stories of all sizes, including large-scale, collaborative reporting projects in which local perspectives are woven into a compelling whole.

"The Desk is helping communities engage with the news and build science literacy in ways that just aren't possible when their region isn't part of the conversation, and this grant helps carry that work forward," said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. "Importantly, these journalists are also gaining valuable experience in environmental reporting, deepening the industry's pool of talent."

Missouri School of Journalism