Introducing NMV’s 2023 Voices for Democracy Portfolio

New Media Ventures is proud to announce our 2023 Voices for Democracy portfolio, a cohort of 14 early-stage, community-centric media outlets across seven key states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. 

As anti-democratic forces undermine the trust in local and community-based media, we need to build up strong media outlets that can hold the line and are relevant to the communities they serve. NMV’s Voices for Democracy cohort is doing just that and will become the next generation of media institutions as the ecosystem shifts and evolves. With 78% of the groups being BIPOC-led, these 14 groups reflect the multi-racial democracy we want to build and are led by new voices that truly represent the diversity of our society. 

While New Media Ventures has been investing in the national progressive media infrastructure for over a dozen years, the well-documented loss of local news sources has left communities grappling with severe threats to our democracy. Communities without viable news and information sources experience a rise in corporate and government corruption, a decline in voter participation, and a proliferation of misinformation from outlets concealing hidden agendas. Investing in trusted media and messengers at the local level is essential to protecting and expanding our democracy, so we’re bringing our national media expertise and resources to local media markets most under attack. 

Over a two-month period, we received and evaluated over 350 local and state based organizations focused on pro-democracy media work across our seven target states. These 14 recipients represent the most innovative approaches to content delivery and community integration, while also having robust capability to mobilize their readers to action on issues most urgent for our democracy leading into 2024 and beyond. You can read more about these amazing organizations here, and please reach out to the investment team if you’re interested in learning more about our media work.