Information Ecosystem Assessments

Communities We’ve Mapped

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

2022
Partner: Health Spark

This assessment’s goal was to showcase the supply and demand sides of the local information ecosystem, to highlight real perspectives and experiences from people in the community, and to offer our recommendations for how to activate and inspire a healthier information ecosystem for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Latinx/Latino community. This work was meant to open a conversation around community news needs and led to some community ideas and projects to fill important information gaps.

Inland Empire, California

2021
Partner: The James Irvine Foundation

The Inland Empire is a region east of Los Angeles centered around the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino. When it comes to local journalism, there is a lot to cover in the IE including Amazon’s expanding footprint and power in the region, climate issues related to drought and wildfires, and a growing unhoused population. This assessment documented how residents in that region get news they need to participate in their communities and the challenges they face in being informed about essential local topics. Read the condensed community version of the assessment too.

New York City

2021
Partner: Documented

In 2021 the immigrant serving news outlet based in New York City, Documented, worked in collaboration with the Listening Post Collective to conduct research to better understand the information needs and habits of members of the city’s Caribbean and Chinese residents. This assessment formed the basis of new beats and verticals serving those specific communities.

Central Valley, California

2019
Partner: The James Irvine Foundation

We conducted an assessment in California’s Central Valley between January and July 2019. Our aim was to take stock of how residents get and share news; listen to their priorities and understand how coverage of those issues impacts their ability to thrive. We also wanted to learn from grassroots news-sharing projects that fill information gaps, despite a lack of resources and formal training. The communities we visited are among the most diverse in the country and home to generations of people working to build healthy, equitable neighborhoods. As part of that objective, residents said they want to improve their access to high-quality local news and information so they can make the best possible choices for their families and communities. Check out the 2021 impact report about this work as well. 

LaPine, Oregon

2019
Partner: Agora Center, University of Oregon

From early January to March 2018, the Engaged Journalism class at the University of Oregon carried out an information ecosystem assessment with residents in La Pine, Oregon to gauge the current information needs of the community. 

Humboldt County, California

2019
Partner: Access Humboldt

The purpose of this assessment was to inform Access Humboldt’s new strategic plan for 2020-2025, and to help Access Humboldt better serve the information needs of their evolving community. This assessment was shared with the general public, particularly journalists, philanthropists, government officials, and the civil society and activist community for consideration in pursuit of their civic and policy goals.

Hurricane Maria – Puerto Rico

2018
Partner: Internews

In the direct aftermath of 2018’s Hurricane Maria, we mapped humanitarian information needs in Puerto Rico as local residents looked for news on rescue, recovery and relief from this natural disaster. In the days and weeks after Maria, many Puerto Ricans were largely unable to access the information they needed because the electrical grid and internet were down. This assessment looked at how communities got and shared crucial news and information in the absence of formal networks and sought to inform improved two-way conversations and information access across the islands.

Oakland, California

2018
Partner: El Tímpano

From March 2017 through February 2018, we partnered with Bay Area journalist Madeleine Bair to research news needs in Oakland’s Latino and Mam indigenous immigrant communities. This assessment shared particular challenges to informing and engaging these communities, as well as the assets and opportunities they had. Finally, it shared a few examples of news engagement projects in other places that may be useful or instructive to media, municipal, and community groups serving Oakland’s diverse communities.

Barclay Neighborhood

Baltimore, Maryland 

2017
Partner: Internews

The goal of this assessment was to uncover the underlying information and civic needs in one Baltimore neighborhood. The project aimed to identify opportunities to support local news and information stewards to provide communities with the information they need on an ongoing basis and sustainably elevate community voices, through media, in conversations and collective problem solving about the future of the city.

Wildfires – Sonoma/Napa County, California

2017
Partner: Center for Disaster Philanthropy

This assessment mapped the challenges the Spanish-speaking population in the North Bay area of California faced in accessing information during 2017 wildfires, reasons for the lack of information in Spanish, and consequences of not having information in their primary language. This report is based on five months of collaborative research, during which time we met with 26 community-based organizations, talked to more than 300 Latino community members of Napa and Sonoma counties, conducted face-to-face surveys and facilitated Listening Circles, visited local media and attended community fairs and gatherings.

Omaha, Nebraska

2017
Partner: Weitz Family Foundation

This assessment was designed to share insights from stakeholders in north Omaha about how the city’s Black community is covered and informed by local media, and to provide a snapshot of media and information flow in the city, particularly around topics like education, jobs, community development, health, housing and more.

US/Mexico Border

2017
Partner: Internews

This assessment researched the information needs of people migrating to Mexico’s northern border from all over the world. We spoke with civil society actors, migrants, and immigration advocates about what questions people have regarding public health, legal rights, and other basic resources and potential ways to create better information access for communities on the move in languages they speak and on platforms they use.

Hurricane Sandy – New Jersey

2016
Partner: Geraldine Dodge Foundation

This assessment tracked information needs and habits in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Working with the local civic information service Jersey Shore Hurricane News (JSHN), LPC explored how to better serve post-disaster communities with news and information related to recovery, sustainability, and preparation for future natural disasters.

Tribal Radio

2011
Partner: Internews

This assessment focuses on two radio stations, KILI, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which was the first tribal station to broadcast in the 1970s, and KKWE on Minnesota’s White Earth reservation, which was began broadcasting in the early aughts. The idea was to explore sustainability and viability issues of community radio in tribal areas, to identify some of the commonalities between tribal stations, and to share some best practices for creating a healthy operation for years to come. In the mostly rural areas where federally recognized tribal communities exist, radio is often the only source of information. Poverty and geographic isolation mean many Native peoples lack access to the Internet, television, newspapers, and even telephone service.