I think there’s a good chance that Press Forward, officially announced on Sept. 7, can be a real inflection point for nonprofit local news. Many foundations, and certainly most individual philanthropists, don’t think about journalism as something that needs philanthropic support. When I add Cityside to charity databases, there is never a category for journalism. […]

Colleen Leary, vice president of client partnerships at Cityside Journalism Initiative, home to Berkeleyside and Oaklandside, has been named Innovator of the Year by the Local Media Association for devising and implementing several notable and creative new revenue-generating initiatives. “Each year, the Local Media Revenue and Strategy Innovator of the Year award recognizes a digital media leader […]

In 2021 The Oaklandside newsroom hired veteran journalist Jose Fermoso with a brief to train his reporting firepower on one of Oakland’s most serious problems: its dangerous roadways. Jose’s reporting digs deep into road safety as a problem of equity, highlighting the fact that Black, brown, and low-income Oaklanders are more likely to be injured […]