We grow local news for and from the Valley

to help you live a healthy and informed life.

We connect Central Valley communities with the support needed to keep local journalism alive.

Our investments ensure important stories reach diverse audiences, strengthening local democracy and restoring the free press.

About Us

EXPLORE OUR NEWSROOMS

We provide boots-on-the-ground reporting through our funded newsrooms in Central Valley communities.

The Merced FOCUS is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to serving a vibrant community with essential fact-based journalism. It launched in March of 2024 and is the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative’s first community-based news organization.

The Merced FOCUS team provides foundational journalism that helps the Merced community empower informed decisions. Whether it’s local politics, education, environmental concerns, or cultural events, The Merced FOCUS is a gateway to stories that matter to the community it serves.

Launched in January 2024 as a beat-focused reporting lab within the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, The Intersection works with local newsrooms to provide essential health equity reporting across California.

We are committed to strengthening community journalism and collaborating to increase reporting capacity, expand news distribution, and help journalists to do their most impactful work.

The Modesto FOCUS is the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative’s next community-based newsroom. It will launch in mid-2025 and is supported by a generous grant from the Stanislaus Community Foundation.

We will share more as we hire the inaugural team that will cover this growing region in the northern San Joaquin Valley. The Modesto FOCUS’ coverage will shine a light on important issues and celebrate the culture of Stanislaus County communities.

INVESTMENTS IN VALLEY'S JOURNALISM ECOSYSTEM

We support newsrooms through direct investments and employ journalists to fill critical reporting gaps.

KVPR

Two journalists at the San Joaquin Valley’s NPR affiliate are funded through grants from CVJC: A higher education reporter and a podcast producer.

HEALTH CARE REPORTING FELLOWSHIP

Full-time reporter will cover San Joaquin Valley health care and related issues as part of a generous grant from the Institute for Media and Public Trust at Fresno State and support from the California Endowment and the California Health Care Foundation.

Local journalism is under threat.

Many legacy news outlets are owned by hedge funds and have diminished reporting resources. The Central Valley, now a growing news desert, needs solutions to preserve fact-based reporting and the freedom of expression.

1 in 4

newspapers have closed since 2004

36,000

journalists lost their jobs due to COVID-19

300,000

jobs gone since 1998

only 14%

of people pay for news

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