Photo courtesy of Press Forward Minnesota

By Bailey Hoskins-Orr | Senior Program Associate, Listening Post Collective (LPC)

Today, Press Forward Minnesota announced $1 million in grants to five local news partnerships to strengthen collaboration between local newsrooms and community-based organizations across the state.

The grant process was largely informed by a 2025 state-wide survey that found that, while Minnesotans have some of the highest voter turnout and census response numbers in the country, they report low civic confidence overall. Understanding the need for a holistic view of civic confidence, the Minnesota Council on Foundations, which houses the state’s Press Forward chapter, incorporated multiple pillars from LPC and Information Futures Labs’s Civic Information Index directly into the evaluation rubric for their Civic Health and Community Collaborations funding call.

Applicants were encouraged to share existing community partnerships and civic engagement initiatives (in alignment with Index Pillars 1 and 2) and demonstrate an inclusive, equity-minded approach in their proposal design (Pillar 3). By looking beyond voter turnout metrics to news and information providers, civic institutions, and structural barriers and opportunities, PFMN identified common community partners most in need of investment and capacity building. That investment is especially timely as Minnesotan news outlets lean on local advocacy groups, legal experts and mutual aid networks to keep their readers safe and informed amid current ICE operations.

The Index, Yang explained, was a tool for “equipping us to be navigators … helping translate philanthropy language into tangible community actions.”

May Yang, Senior Manager for Policy and Partnerships at the Minnesota Council on Foundations, shares more on how the Index informed PFMN’s grant selection process in our case study here.