El Paso Matters has been awarded a $750,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, part of a $6 million investment by the Chicago-based philanthropy to address the unique challenges faced by local news and information environments along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Small newsrooms in this region struggle with limited resources while confronting exceptional challenges, including safety concerns, trauma and difficulties accessing information from governments on both sides of the border,” said Silvia Rivera, director of local news at MacArthur. “This makes the role of local newsrooms even more critical, as they bear the overarching responsibility of combating misinformation and maintaining community cohesion.”
MacArthur is awarding grants to eight organizations focused on issues facing border journalism, including three in El Paso.
In addition to the El Paso Matters grant, the foundation awarded the El Paso Community Foundation more than $2.2 million to establish a donor-advised fund to strengthen local journalism in the borderland, and $450,000 to the Puente News Collaborative to support high-quality bilingual journalism along the U.S.-Mexico border through reporting initiatives, specialized trainings and cross-border community engagement strategies for underserved populations.
“We are grateful that MacArthur has recognized and focused on the importance of local news on the U.S.-Mexico border, and we are honored that the foundation chose to support El Paso Matters,” said Robert Moore, CEO and founder of the local nonprofit news organization. “This support is a recognition of the importance of our region, and the quality of work produced by our journalists.”
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In addition to the MacArthur grant, El Paso Matters this year also received a new $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation to support its journalism. Since it began publishing in 2020, El Paso Matters has been awarded more than $4 million by national funders to support border journalism.
Other recipients of the MacArthur Foundation borderlands investment announced Friday:
- Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, $750,000 to support Press Forward Southern Arizona and its work to fill critical gaps in local news and information in the region.
- Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism CUNY Foundation, $750,000 to provide programs and journalism training to community news outlets throughout the United States, including Spanish-language media and outlets serving the borderlands.
- Homeland Productions, $350,000 to support The Border Chronicle, a weekly newsletter that publishes original, on-the-ground reporting on issues important to borderland communities.
- San Antonio Area Foundation, $750,000 to support the first Press Forward chapter in Texas and its work to develop a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive local news and information environment in South Central Texas and one that collaborates with partners in the borderlands.
- Wayne State University Law School, $350,000 to support further development of VERDAD: Verifying and Exposing Disinformation and Discourse, a free app used by journalists that helps detect and track coordinated mis- and disinformation on Spanish-language radio stations in several states.
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