Creating a Minnesota Community News Investment Fund

Community news needs a new model of financing. Currently, both innovation and economic survival is being driven by philanthropic grants and donations (while private equity largely funds consolidation and erosion of local news).

It is time for the local news world to learn and borrow from other sectors where “catalytic capital” has had a positive impact, such as affordable housing, green energy and arts and culture. That term refers to lending and other financing methods that have public interest components, including: below-market interest rates, “patient” capital (longer payback periods), “purpose-driven” terms (such as flexible or no collateral) and other approaches. In some cases, it includes loans that convert to grants if certain metrics are hit. At the same time, investors into catalytic capital funds have different expectations. The financial return on investment may be lower but the impact can be much greater.

This paper explores that concept in the context of Minnesota, which we believe is a strong place to start. As the world has seen, Minnesota has a strong local news ecosystem and unusually high civic and philanthropic engagement. It also has demonstrated this year the importance of local journalism.

Unfortunately, many community news outlets – especially those outside the Twin Cities and those led by or serving historically marginalized communities – are operating at or near a financial tipping point. They can either slide backward or scale up, depending in part on the availability of financing. The goal is not only to provide capital, but to help build a more investable and financially resilient local news ecosystem over time.

Across more than 20 in-depth interviews with Minnesota news operators, funders and intermediaries, we found consistent alignment on the problem and opportunity. In addition, we interviewed those who have created two initial efforts of this sort in the media space: Invest Appalachia’s Rural News Fund and the Media Resilience Fund managed by URL Media and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (and supported by Rebuild Local News). Local operators interviewed described a clear set of near-term capital needs tied to stabilization, transition, and growth, while funders expressed strong interest in deployable vehicles in local news that blend impact with repayment.

Drawing on the Prime Coalition’s methodology for assessing catalytic capital projects, we assessed the Minnesota journalism ecosystem and availability of social impact and commercial capital. We also found evidence of a pipeline of investable local news organizations with viable business models, clear use of funds, and plausible paths to repayment – alongside a shortage of flexible, right-sized capital.

We therefore propose the creation of a Minnesota Community News Investment Fund, initially capitalized with $10 million, to strengthen the sustainability, local ownership, and civic impact of local news organizations across the state. The Fund will provide patient, flexible, and risk-tolerant capital – primarily in the form of public-interest-oriented loans. Capital will be paired with targeted technical assistance to address persistent capital gaps that neither traditional philanthropy or traditional commercial financial companies can meet on their own.

If successful, this revolving-loan model could be replicated around the country on a state level, enabling philanthropic dollars to stretch much farther and providing more avenues for growth to local news outlets around the country.

A Structural Gap in Local News

Our research, alongside a similar effort conducted to assess the health of news businesses in Appalachia, indicates that local news businesses operate with significantly fewer financing options than other small businesses. As a result, many operators rely on informal and higher-risk sources of financing – personal guarantees, credit cards, or deferred expenses – indicating not an aversion to capital but a lack of appropriate options. As one Minnesota operator shared:

“When people start or run a local news business, they’re often collateralizing their house, using credit cards – doing everything except having access to normal small-business capital.”

Local news is essential civic infrastructure, yet it is systematically undercapitalized. News organizations are expected to operate as mission-driven businesses while relying on capital systems designed either for philanthropy or profit maximization.

Evidence from other mission-driven sectors underscores that this gap is not unique to news. A long-running lending program in arts and culture demonstrates that flexible credit – at below market interest rates with terms that match the operating realities of social sector organizations – can stabilize organizations without increasing failure risk, even in fields with volatile revenue and thin margins. However, while social impact financing initiatives have been created in many areas, it has not yet taken hold in the local news space, where it is most urgently needed.

Across our research, Minnesota local news operators consistently reported:

Limited access to low-interest loans: A 2022 Rebuild Local News commissioned survey found that almost three-quarters of news outlet respondents (74%) did not have lines of credit or even business credit cards. This is supported by national level research Many local news organizations cannot responsibly absorb debt at market-based interest rates but the primary alternative, grants, are not sufficiently available. But even those that could profitably use market-rate loans cannot get them, especially loans in the $50,000-$250,000 range.

Constraints on revenue experimentation: Operators lack financing to invest in revenue-generating hires, technology, or facilities that could unlock earned income. A 2022 Rebuild Local News commissioned survey found that over nine out ten (91 percent) said a lack of financing prevents their organization from growing, making a profit, or becoming sustainable.

Precarious Greater Minnesota news ecosystems: Outside of the Twin Cities, according to 2025 Northwestern University, Medill’s Local News Initiative, 22 counties are one outlet away from becoming news deserts, despite strong community demand for local reporting. According to the 2024 MJC Ecosystem Mapping Project, for every two outlets that close, only one new one launches. We know there are deleterious consequences on local journalism of these trends. According to a 2025 Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University survey, in these emerging news deserts, residents rely heavily on social media and other non-journalistic sources to stay informed, leading to a “perception gap” where 71 percent of residents believe their local news is financially healthy even as it nears collapse. This is despite evidence, from the 2026 Civic Information Needs Census (CINC), showing large gaps between the importance Americans place on local topics and their satisfaction with available news with research and it remains harder for Americans to stay informed about their own neighborhood than about the nation.

Ownership and succession risks: Legacy outlets often face urgent succession challenges without access to patient capital to stabilize operations and preserve assets during transitions. A 2024 MJC Ecosystem Mapping Project study showed that ownership changes are a leading indicator: outlets that changed hands were nearly three times more likely to close than those that didn’t, and roughly 11 percent of the ecosystem changed hands in the last decade alone.

Disproportionate impact on historically marginalized operators: Declines in DEI-related corporate and philanthropic funding are putting additional pressure on outlets led by Black, Hispanic, and other marginalized leaders. According to a survey as part of 2024 study from the Pivot Fund, among BIPOC media entrepreneurs surveyed, 87 percent viewed philanthropic funding as inequitable, and of those who did receive philanthropic support, only 21 percent said it was sufficient for basic operations.

Use Cases & Investment Approach

Across our analysis, we identified a preliminary pipeline of organizations that could be strong candidates for early investment based on three criteria:

1. 1. Need for capital linked to operating or revenue goals;
   2. Demonstrated financial management capacity; and
   3. Plausible pathway to repayment.

We envision initial deployment focused on a limited number of high-quality investments to validate assumptions, refine underwriting approaches, and build early proof points for the field.

Evidence from catalytic loan funds shows that access to responsible credit can strengthen financial management and maturity. Organizations with access to flexible capital adopt clearer repayment planning, stronger budgeting practices, and more formal board oversight – benefits that accrue even when credit is used sparingly.

Across the Minnesota feasibility interviews, news operators were consistent about what would make capital both usable and constructive. These insights closely align with the early design and implementation of the Rural News Fund, a catalytic capital initiative launched in Appalachia. In some cases, they provide a grant in the first year and a loan in the second year, which gives the organizations both the time and incentive to build toward greater financial reliability. In that effort, fund manager Invest Appalachia drew on lessons from community development finance to structure capital around the realities of small, mission-driven news organizations, demonstrating that adapting proven financing approaches to this sector is both possible and effective.

In practice, this means capital must be patient, with realistic timelines and flexible repayment expectations. It must also be understandable, using plain language rather than financial jargon, and paired with appropriate support, particularly during periods of transition or growth.

Priority Use Cases for Investment: Within this framework, local news outlets described capital needs in Minnesota clustered around three use cases:

1. Stabilization and Working Capital
Flexible, short- to medium-term financing to address cash-flow gaps, bridge receivables, or smooth revenue volatility during periods of change.

Example: A small newsroom serving multiple rural counties experiences uneven revenue due to seasonal advertising and delayed grant payments. While revenue is stable year-over-year, timing gaps regularly put pressure on payroll and vendor management.

2. Ownership Transitions & Asset Retention
Patient capital to support mission-aligned ownership transitions, including local, worker-led, or nonprofit models and to retain critical assets and preserve local control during leadership or generational shifts.

Example: A long-standing Black-owned newspaper faces a leadership transition as its owner prepares to retire. Without access to patient capital, the most likely buyers are out-of-state chains or private equity, risking asset stripping or closure. With patient capital, local economic development agencies, community organizations, mission-driven local business people, or philanthropy could all become potential investors.

“Succession is one of the biggest risks in this sector – and without patient capital, good outlets just disappear.”
– A media funder

3. Revenue-Generating Investments
Financing tied to specific growth initiatives – such as revenue hires, facilities, or technology – where repayment is linked to performance and learning.

Example: A growing digital news organization has strong audience engagement but limited earned revenue. Leadership has identified opportunities to expand sponsorships, events, and membership but lacks upfront capital to hire a revenue lead or invest in supporting systems.

“It’s rare that anyone asks us to invest in something that actually grows revenue. That kind of capital would change how we plan.”
– A local news operator

Fund Structure and Financial Instruments: While precise market sizing is evolving, our initial analysis suggests:

• • Dozens of outlets across Minnesota fall within a potentially investable segment;
  • Typical capital needs cluster between $50,000 and $250,000 with occasional larger opportunities tied to ownership transitions or asset acquisitions; and
  • Near-term demand for catalytic capital in Minnesota could reasonably be $10 million.

The Fund’s approach to investment instruments is informed by evidence that philanthropic guarantees, Program Related Investments (PRIs), and nonprofit or Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) lending partners can enable high-performing credit programs in sectors historically excluded from conventional finance, while keeping borrower risk manageable.

The Fund is envisioned to deploy a blend of philanthropic and impact capital using instruments such as:

• • Low-interest loans: patient, below-market loans, including small or micro-loans, that meet the operational realities of newsrooms
  • Revenue-based loans: loans with repayment tied to cash flow, ensuring repayment obligations flex with revenue volatility
  • Recoverable grants and loan-to-grant structures – capital that functions like a grant up-front but is repaid if agreed-upon milestones are met

Initial performance targets would prioritize return of principal, with learning and ecosystem development as core outcomes.

Technical Assistance & Ecosystem Support: Evaluations of catalytic capital programs show that pairing capital with technical assistance materially improves repayment outcomes and organizational capacity. In comparable models, defaults were concentrated among organizations that did not participate in financial management support, while those that engaged in capacity-building demonstrated stronger long-term resilience.

Capital deployed by the Minnesota Community News Loan Fund will be paired with tailored technical assistance, designed to support news organizations. This may be provided directly by the Fund or it can tap into the extensive network of excellent Journalism Support Organizations already working on these challenges. Anticipated supports include:

• • Business modeling and financial planning;
  • Revenue diversification strategy;
  • Governance and ownership transition planning; and
  • Capital readiness and investment education.

Expected Outcomes & Impact

Taken together, evidence from analogous catalytic capital efforts suggests that this approach can achieve strong repayment outcomes while improving organizational stability, financial practices, and sector confidence, creating durable infrastructure for ongoing investment.

Through this integrated approach, the Fund aims to:

• • Increase sustainability, resilience, and credit-worthiness of Minnesota news outlets;
  • Preserve and expand local ownership;
  • Strengthen revenue and governance models;
  • Build sector confidence in local news as an investable public-benefit sector;
  • Extend the reach of philanthropic support; and
  • Generate replicable lessons for national field-building efforts.

“Catalytic Capital”

Evidence from other undercapitalized civic sectors demonstrates that “catalytic” capital can improve organizational resilience while maintaining high repayment performance. In evaluating the MacArthur Foundation Arts and Culture Loan Fund, researchers found that the arts programs they funded repaid loans at rates comparable to commercial lending. Even better, the groups were able to be more strategic – trying new revenue streams, hiring staff that could generate more income – as opposed to just living paycheck to paycheck. These kinds of loans allow social impact lenders to prioritize public benefit and long-term sustainability while recycling resources through repayment and building investable markets over time.

In addition to providing immediate liquidity, catalytic capital can help strengthen the long-term financial position of borrowers by helping them be more credit-worthy in the eyes of traditional lenders, both by developing better financial practices and by creating more consistent and stable revenue streams. By introducing appropriately structured debt and repayment expectations, these investments help organizations build the systems, track records, and financial confidence needed to access additional forms of capital over time.

Organizations that successfully take on and repay mission-aligned financing may be better positioned to attract follow-on investment – from philanthropy, impact investors, and, in some cases, traditional lenders. Over time, this expands the pool of capital available to the sector and reduces reliance on any single funding source. The national funder collaborative Press Forward recently published an excellent guide to uses of catalytic capital for local news, to which we contributed.

The timing is also critical. National efforts to provide new financing for local news are beginning to take shape, but these efforts are unlikely to support small, hyper-local investments directly. A Minnesota-based fund – and ultimately a network of state-based or local funds – can address different needs, draw in different investors and connect to larger pools of aligned capital over time.

This Fund will demonstrate a focused, credible model for deploying social impact lending in support of local news – first for Minnesota and then as a template for other states and national efforts.

Finally, such an approach has an obvious system benefit: enabling philanthropic players to stretch their dollars further. At a time when foundations and individual donors are needing to attend to many different social and cultural needs, this would increase the likelihood that sufficient capital is at work to revive community news

Why Minnesota?

Minnesota is well positioned to launch the first state-based catalytic capital fund for local news. The state benefits from a nationally recognized journalism ecosystem, including Press Forward Minnesota, as well as engaged local philanthropy and policy leadership. It also demonstrates strong civic participation and community identity, alongside a diverse mix of urban, rural, and tribal communities with distinct information needs.

According to the Local Journalist Index, developed by Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, Minnesota ranks 13th nationally in journalism capacity and all 87 counties technically have at least one outlet but that strength is concentrated in the Twin Cities. However, much of the journalist capacity lies in urban areas such as Ramsey county with Greater Minnesota operating near zero, with 20+ counties with effectively no local reporters. According to the 2024 MJC Ecosystem Mapping Project, more than 76 outlets have closed since 2018, with more than 11 per year, with print outlets bearing the brunt. According to 2025 Northwestern University, Medill’s Local News Initiative, daily newspapers dropped from 14 to 11 outlets between 2024 and 2025 alone. The 2024 MJC study showed that ownership changes are a leading indicator: outlets that changed hands were nearly three times more likely to close than those that didn’t, and roughly 11 percent of the ecosystem changed hands in the last decade alone. The 2024 MJC study also revealed that new launches were disproportionately clustered in the Twin Cities metro, while closures are spread across the state meaning the communities losing coverage most are the least likely to see it replaced.

Minnesota performs the best of all 50 states on the Overall Civic Information Index and does the best on their Civic Participation Index. For example, volunteering is among the strongest in the country at 35.5 percent, compared to a national average of 25.4 percent. While the Index does not provide data granular enough to isolate Minnesota further, it notes that “Midwestern communities generally fare well, reflecting strong civic health indicators in many areas.”

This is reinforced by the Civic Information Needs Census, which finds Midwesterners particularly active in community-based participation: 25 percent participated in community organizing in the past year (vs. 21 percent nationally) and 60 percent sought information on town hall meetings (vs. 54 percent nationally). The region also shows a tendency to lean on social networks for information, with 47 percent turning to friends for civic news (vs. 43 percent nationally) and 35 percent relying on friends, family, and neighbors for local news (vs. 31 percent nationally).

Minnesota is diversifying rapidly with communities of color are growing faster than the white population but traditional media hasn’t kept up. According to a 2024 study from the Pivot Fund, legacy outlets have largely failed to serve these communities well, leading to widespread distrust, particularly around crime and civic coverage. In listening sessions with over 600 Minnesotans from diverse backgrounds, 68 percent had turned to social media in the past 30 days for local news. The study found that community-based outlets serving Black, Indigenous, and communities of color exist and are trusted, but they’re severely underfunded. The study shows that among BIPOC media entrepreneurs surveyed, 87 percent viewed philanthropic funding as inequitable, and of those who did receive philanthropic support, only 21 percent said it was sufficient for basic operations.

Across our interviews, small- and mid-sized Minnesota media operators consistently reported:

• • Little to no access to traditional credit products, such as lines of credit or working capital loans;
  • Reliance on grants, personal capital, or informal financing to manage cash flow;
  • Inability to secure conventional loans in the $50,000-$250,000 range where many needs are concentrated;
  • Belief that they could have improved their economic sustainability if loans had been available and limited ability to invest in revenue-generating capacity despite clear opportunities.

Taken together, Minnesota represents a high-readiness, high-need environment: a strong civic network paired with a local news ecosystem that is increasingly fragile outside of major metros. This combination creates a unique opportunity for catalytic capital to have an outsized impact.

Capitalization Strategy

The money for such a fund could come from a variety of sources. Foundations could use grants to finance the effort, since that would potentially increase the impact of their investments and enable them to recycle their grant funds to touch more beneficiaries. In addition, a foundation’s Program Related Investment portfolio – forever on the lookout for scalable opportunities – could consider participating, with an eye on both impact and some financial return.

Community Foundations could invest capital on behalf of their Donor Advised Funds. Individuals might find this appealing as a way of making their philanthropy have greater impact.

Several of these organizations could provide value another way – through loan guarantees. For instance, a foundation could say that in the rare event that a news outlet cannot repay, the foundation would cover some or all of the loss (effectively turning the guarantor into a grantmaker).

These funders will likely see the investment in community news as advancing other public-interest goals such as economic sustainability and civic health. These tools allow the Fund to absorb and share risk on the lending side, improve terms for borrowers, and create and make catalytic capital investment accessible to a broader range of funders.

Our research in Minnesota found potential funders of all these types interested in the creation of a Community News Investment Fund.

We believe Fund One should ultimately be at least $10 million with the option for an earlier close. Based on our interviews with local players, a fund at this size could provide more than 60 well-qualified investments (mostly loans) over 10 years. While we acknowledge that most funds have time horizons of 5-10 years, we think it’s an important conceptual shift for the field of journalism philanthropy to imagine the impact that establishing such a fund could have over a longer time horizon. With investments ranging from $50k to $1M and an initial investment of $10M, we project that the fund could exist for more than 40 years and make over 100 investments by recycling capital as loans are repaid. We intentionally have a meaningful amount of money toward business support, so that increases the “operations” element. The good news is that there are now numerous excellent support organizations that can be retained by the fund.

As a practical matter, the steps needed to start and run such a fund would be:

1. 1. Local champions commit to start such a fund (including making a commitment to provide some of the initial capital)
   2. The local champions select a fund manager to design and potentially house the fund itself.
   3. The fund manager and the local champions (hopefully now growing in number) raise the rest of the money for the fund.

Role of Public Policy

The fund can be established independent of government action. However, targeted public policy interventions could significantly enhance its effectiveness and scale.

In particular, loan funds can complement existing public investments in local news by addressing timing and liquidity challenges. For example, news organizations that receive government advertising or refundable tax credits often face delays between incurring costs and receiving payments. Access to flexible capital can bridge these gaps, allowing organizations to fully participate in public programs.

Public policy can also strengthen the loan Fund itself. In other sectors, government-backed loan guarantees and credit enhancements have played a critical role in expanding access to capital by reducing lender risk. Relevant opportunities may include:

Amend Minnesota Government Loan Guarantee Programs to Better Assist Local News Financing. Many existing policy frameworks provide loan guarantees for conventional institutions (banks, credit unions) that offer conventional debt. The legislature and regulators should certainly make sure that loan guarantee programs apply to the local sector.

But they should go further. The loan guarantees should also apply to Community Development Financial Institutions that support community – and to new catalytic capital funds created by Minnesota philanthropies (like the one described in this paper). Government loan guarantees in other sectors often enable investment that otherwise would not have been possible by lowering the risk of non-payment and default by borrowers. The approach has been used successfully to help veterans, farmers, students, small businesses, energy entrepreneurs, housing developers and many others.

To ensure that the Fund meets the needs of community news organizations, it will be important to define eligible uses of capital broadly to include revenue growth and business model innovation, capacity building, working capital, and stabilization uses. Clear and thoughtful eligibility criteria for what outlets qualify as journalism or news-providing institutions. This can take advantage of laws and regulations recently instituted in other states (including Illinois and New Mexico) that have been crafted by local stakeholders to ensure editorial independence and fidelity to the First Amendment. For instance, strategies that could result in government ownership or control of a news organization, such as in the case of a loan default, should be avoided or mitigated.

Providing Capital: Although the most common form of public policy support in this area is the loan guarantee, public dollars could provide some of the capital toward a Community News Investment Fund. For instance, public funds contributed to Community Development Financing Institutions (CDFIs), either as direct investment or a guarantee, could be combined with philanthropic funds or impact investment dollars to lower interest rates or improve terms for borrowers.

Expanding eligibility for news organizations to access Economic Development Credits and other existing economic development tools. New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), provided by the federal government, are commonly used for projects like building health clinics, schools, or real estate in underserved areas. Local news organizations are often not included because they are not widely recognized as a standard type of project within the program. Making news organizations eligible for NMTCs could enable them to get financing to acquire physical assets, such as buildings for community media hubs, printing plants, and studio space. NMTCs also tend to attract a different pool of investors than philanthropy, which could expand the overall amount of funding available in the sector. The Community News Investment Fund could connect news organizations to NMTC financing as a complement to its investment.

Enhancing other forms of government support. This kind of fund, especially if backed by government loan guarantees, can, in turn make other public policy efforts more effective. For instance, several local governments (including New York City and the State of Maryland) have now required that a certain percentage of government advertising spending go toward community media. However, some smaller outlets needed help to provide the metrics and reports to qualify for the advertising. An investment from the Community News Investment Fund could help organizations modernize their ad kits, which would in turn enable them to take in significantly more in government advertising. Another example involves the efforts in multiple states to provide refundable employment tax credits to help local newsrooms retain or hire local reporters. Illinois’s program in its first year awarded $4 million refundable tax credits, supporting over 260 journalist jobs across more than 120 local outlets statewide. But there is a gap between when news outlets are notified and when the check arrives. News organizations could access bridge loans from the Community News Investment fund to manage cashflow before tax credits arrive.

Illinois also enacted a requirement that news outlets provide communities and employees with 120 days notice on the sale of their outlet. This was designed to give time to local buyers to acquire the paper and keep it locally-owned or controlled, in effect “replanting” it into local soil. But that kind of replanting policy is less likely to be effective if not coupled with efforts to provide financing for community organizations, businesses, public radio stations or other potential acquirers.

These approaches have some political advantages as well. Loan guarantees and loan programs have traditionally had a broader base of political support because they are perceived as “helping hands” rather than “handouts.” In addition, in tough fiscal climates, it provides a way for the government to have a positive social impact for less money.

Conclusion: From Feasibility to Action

The crisis in community news is severe and growing. Traditional philanthropy alone will not be sufficient. Minnesota Community News Investment Fund represents a concrete and achievable opportunity to move from theory to coordinated action – to deploy capital in ways that stabilize organizations, support local ownership, and build a more investable and resilient news ecosystem over time. We recommend that Minnesota’s philanthropic and social impact investing community move as quickly as possible toward a focused initial deployment so that Minnesota can demonstrate what it looks like to finance local news as essential civic infrastructure.

Acknowledgements & About the Authors

This report reflects a collaboration between Caroline Ross of Valentin Co. and Rebuild Local News to assess the availability of innovative financing and access to capital for community news outlets in Minnesota. This report was supported by the McKnight Foundation but all opinions represented in this report are those solely of the authors. This effort was informed by more than 20 in-depth interviews with Minnesota-based news operators, funders, journalism support organizations, policy leaders, and financial intermediaries. We are grateful for their ideas and input that contributed to this report.

End Notes

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Charles H. Revson Foundation. “Prying Open the Vault: Public and Mission Driven Financing for Local Journalism.” Revson Foundation, https://revsonfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Revson-Prying-Open-the-Vault.pdf. Accessed April 19, 2026.

Civic News Company. “Civic Information Needs Census.” infocensus.org, infocensus.org/. Accessed March 20, 2026.

Commoner Co. “Journalism Support Exchange.”https://jsx.news
Danger, Tane, and Nisha D. Botchwey. “Make Minnesota the Main Stage for Thoughtful Engagement About America’s Future.” MinnPost, March 2026, www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2026/03/make-minnesota-the-main-stage-for-thoughtful-engagement-about-americas-future/.

John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. “Evaluating the Arts & Culture Loan Fund Program.” MacArthur Foundation, www.macfound.org/press/evaluation/evaluating-arts-culture-loan-fund-program. Accessed March 20, 2026.

Information Futures Lab, Brown University, and Listening Post Collective. “Civic Information Index.” civicinfoindex.org, civicinfoindex.org/. Accessed March 20, 2026.

Lev, Michael, and Eric Rynston-Lobel. “With No Local News, Those in News Deserts Turn to Social Media Feeds, Influencers and Gossip.” Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, Feb. 10, 2026, localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/posts/2026/02/10/news-deserts-social-media-local-news-medill-survey/.

Medill Local News Initiative. “State of Local News: Explore Minnesota.” Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University, 2024, localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/explore/#/state-localnewslandscape?state=MN&stateCode=27.

Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News. Local Journalist Index 2025. July 10, 2025, localjournalistindex.com/.

The Pivot Fund. Minnesota Community News Landscape Today. The Pivot Fund, September 2025, thepivotfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PF-Minnesota-Media-Landscape-Report-FINAL-2-LoRes.pdf.

Toff, Benjamin. Minnesota’s Local News Ecosystem Report 2024. Minnesota Journalism Center Ecosystem Mapping Project, University of Minnesota, Sept. 27, 2024, newsmap.umn.edu/minnesotas-local-news-ecosystem-report-2024.

Waldman, Steven. “Letter to Federal Banking Regulators.” Rebuild Local News, www.rebuildlocalnews.org/solutions/banking/. Accessed March 20, 2026.

Waldman, Steven. “Community News Investment Fund.” Rebuild Local News, https://www.rebuildlocalnews.org/community-news-investment-fund/. Accessed April 19, 2026.

Waldman, Steven. “A Replanting Strategy: Saving Local News Squeezed by Hedge Funds. ” Center for Journalism and Liberty, https://www.journalismliberty.org/publications/replanting-strategy-saving-local-newspapers-squeezed-by-hedge-fund. Accessed April 19, 2026.

Wyncote Foundation. “Meeting the Revenue Challenge: Philanthropy’s Role in Local News Growth.” Wyncote Foundation, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tKkjCn8k7OBbWCmtU4P5ad1q-PQUkvq1/view. Accessed April 19, 2026