Knight Foundation
To experiment with a new funding model for local news by bringing together leaders and innovators in communities to provide microgrants to journalism and media projects.
To experiment with a new funding model for local journalism, the Awesome News Taskforce will bring together 10 to 15 community leaders and media innovators in Detroit and two other cities to provide $1,000 microgrants to innovative journalism and civic media projects. By encouraging pilot projects, prototypes, events and social entrepreneurial ventures, Awesome News Taskforce will encourage a wide swathe of the community to experiment with creative solutions to their information needs.
Christina Xu is the chancellor of the Institute on Higher Awesome Studies, a fledgling nonprofit that promotes microgranting as a new alternative to traditional funding. She also works on Breadpig, which seeks to direct technological resources towards social good. She has worked at the Center for Future Civic Media at MIT and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard.