Daily News wins $12,000 citizen journalism grant

The Chi-Town Daily News on Tuesday won a $12,000 University of Maryland grant to recruit and train citizen journalists. 

The Chi-Town Daily News is a non-profit citizen journalism website that works with community members to help them cover events and issues across the city. 

Under the grant program, the Daily News will partner with Columbia College to cover neighborhood events in five Chicago zip codes. The news site will recruit citizen journalists in those zip codes, and work with professors from Columbia’s journalism program to train them. The new journalists will then write for the Daily News. 

“We’re thrilled that the grant committee recognized the Daily News is forging a unique and exciting new path in journalism,” said Daily News editor Geoff Dougherty. “This program will jumpstart our efforts to cover Chicago’s neighborhoods. It also provides a great opportunity for community members to receive professional-level journalism training.” 

The grant is administered by J-Lab, a project at the University of Maryland that helps  news organizations and citizens use new media technologies to create fresh ways for people to participate in public life. 

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation funds the program.