By Jesse Hardman, Founder | The Listening Post Collective

Five years ago, we were asked to do an Information Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) of California’s Inland Empire (IE), a sprawling region that encompasses a population of more than 4 million people and 27 thousand square miles (bigger than many states in the US). It turned out to be one of our most ambitious, rewarding, and memorable projects. We talked to dozens of local trusted community information sharers as part of this work, including Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds, a local publisher, community leader, and social justice advocate. To say Paulette made good use of our IEA would be a huge understatement. She’s leveraged some of the insights and recommendations from the report to build a vision for a representational and accessible news and information ecosystem in the IE. Here’s our Q&A with Paulette about the legacy of the original IEA in the IE, how she’s adapted and built on that work, and what the impact has been over the past five years.

What caught your attention when the original Information Ecosystem Assessment of the Inland Empire happened? 

The first thing that caught my attention when the original assessment was published was that creating a local civic media fund to support community-led journalism efforts was the top recommendation. It was something I had been thinking about and as chair of the Inland Empire Community Foundation I was interested in starting. I also had been part of a cohort at Report for America that focused on community news funds so that was very present in my thinking.

How do you think the IE information ecosystem has changed in the past 4 years, since the original assessment? How is it the same? 

There are some major developments, for instance, when the first assessment was completed, folks were not exposed to generative AI. The new technology is already changing how people access information although they may not be aware of how it’s influencing what they see and how much information they can access. There are also more and more social media groups that people access for information. Unfortunately, it is not always vetted and legitimate information and news. There is now a more collaborative news ecosystem, but that coordinated network of small newsrooms is just beginning to start. I see a lot of promise there (in full transparency: I’m co-leading that effort). We are seeing some strategic investment as well, now that we have a news fund, from major foundations. How is it the same? People continue to need more and better sources for news and information. That hasn’t changed.

You mentioned the recommendations in the original IEA are things you’ve since invested in, one way or another. Can you share examples? 

I recently spoke on the work of the Hub + Fund at a conference and in preparing for that session I reviewed the LPC Assessment and realized we were actively engaged in implementing six of the recommendations: establish a news fund, establish a community media hub, recruit a community editor, provide paid journalism opportunities for BIPOC talent, design topic-focused collaborative reporting, and develop a media literacy curriculum. 

Excerpt from the Listening Post Collective’s Inland Empire Information Ecosystem Assessment report

When you set up a Journalism Innovation Hub and Fund with the Inland Empire Community Foundation, what was your pitch to get them interested in local journalism? How did the original ecosystem assessment help in any way?  

There was no need to make a pitch to IECF. Because I had been involved in promoting community philanthropy supporting journalism, our CEO Michelle Decker expected me to start a fund. Our first major funder allocated $500,000 to start the Hub + Fund so we were able to begin with significant resources. The Assessment was helpful in providing us with the information we needed to begin the planning phase and understand the community’s information needs.

That model has evolved since you first set that up, including the arrival of Press Forward. How did you integrate your original fund idea with the PF Local model? 

It was quite seamless to integrate Press Forward into our initial thinking. The pillars for investment were similar to what we were considering. And we were fortunate that LPC had already completed an Assessment that we could build on. 

Geography plays a huge role in what’s possible in the sprawling Inland Empire, realities shift from one area to another. How do you think about solutions for the region while still focusing on smaller, specific projects? 

While we have a sprawling region, we find that there is an equal lack of access to information, so our focus is on tapping into the infrastructures that exist and creating and distributing vetted information through those channels. We’re exploring media infrastructure (we discovered over 100 radio stations in our initial mapping work) and civic infrastructure (utilizing the over 50 library branches as civic information hubs). 

“While we have a sprawling region, we find that there is an equal lack of access to information, so our focus is on tapping into the infrastructures that exist and creating and distributing vetted information through those channels.”

The original media models in the area had more of the classic competitive legacy media ad-driven strategy. What do you think works best now in the IE in terms of creating a media sphere that’s both sustainable and equitable? 

We are interested in exploring various business models. These models must have diversified revenue strategies. They must also be flexible and responsive to community. 

You also are the publisher of a local news outlet, Black Voice News. How does that help inform your bigger ecosystem work?

As an active publisher, especially coming from legacy press, I understand first-hand the challenges of producing community news and growing a business. Being a publisher has also afforded me the experience of working within various ecosystems and helped me understand that no matter how big the news organization, if the industry is struggling, we all will struggle. We cannot work in silos. We must work together.

Who is in your hub…how is it run and how are participants collaborating? 

Our Hub is made-up of several digital news organizations, several legacy community news organizations that represent Latino and Black communities, a local university, a podcaster, media literacy program, AI newsletter researcher & publisher, and a local social media merchandiser. We have regular meetings and opportunities for technical support with a focus on revenue. 

“No matter how big the news organization, if the industry is struggling, we all will struggle. We cannot work in silos. We must work together.”

What’s your strategy for how to seed fund an actual ecosystem? How do you spread the wealth but still create a cohesive identity around people’s news and info needs in the IE? 

We are building our reporting beats — including funding on our partners — utilizing the Vital Conditions for Thriving Communities Framework. This Framework is something that is being adopted by our region’s social sector and government agencies. We’ll be investing in reporting projects by our Hub partners, adding a Creator strategy that will expand reporting, and then tapping into the civic and media infrastructure for distribution and community engagement. We are branding that work “informed inland empire” which will also serve as an aggregator for the media partners. We are also working with the local colleges, universities, and schools on a pipeline of paid storytellers.