Dallas Free Press

In Dallas, some of the people helping report the news aren’t career journalists.

They’re residents sitting through hours-long public meetings and taking notes because they want their neighbors to know what their local government is doing. They’re high school students documenting their schools' and communities' stories because no one else is telling them.

And they’re part of Dallas Free Press.

For the past six years, our nonprofit newsroom has worked alongside South Dallas and West Dallas residents to reimagine what local journalism can look like when it is created not just about a community, but for and with the people who know it best.

Working with our communities has always meant leading with listening and letting our neighbors’ questions, concerns and celebrations guide our reporting. Over time, we have built on that foundation by creating paid opportunities for community members to take on meaningful roles in the journalism itself:

• Dallas Documenters are residents we pay and train to attend and take notes at public meetings, acting as eyes and ears for their communities so important conversations and decisions don’t go unheard or unseen. As the program has grown, we've been able to add even more paid opportunities for our Documenters: from creating easy-to-understand videos that break down what happened in a public meeting, why it matters and how to get involved, to contributing reporting of their own to our newsroom.
• Journalism Pathway Fellows are South Dallas and West Dallas high school students whom we pay, teach and mentor as they develop and pursue their own story ideas about their schools and communities. Through the fellowship, students gain hands-on experience in photography, videography, interviewing and reporting — opportunities often unavailable in their schools — and produce journalism that allows their peers and communities to see themselves reflected and celebrated in local news.
  
  

Altogether, we have paid over $40,000 directly to residents and students for their time and contributions to local news.

What your support makes possible

We already know you care deeply about your community. Help us invest just as deeply in your neighbors and young people working to keep it informed and tell its stories. 

• $25 can pay a Dallas Documenter for one hour of translating public meeting information into accessible resources
• $75 can pay a high school student fellow for a five-hour week of learning and reporting
• $250 can cover the cost of paying a Dallas Documenter to attend and take notes at three public meetings
• $500 can provide a hands-on journalism workshop for all of our student fellows
• $1,000 can equip a student fellow with the tools and equipment needed to pursue their stories (camera, laptop, SD cards, editing software)
• $2,500 can train and pay 25 Dallas residents to become Dallas Documenters
  
  

See our Dallas Documenters' work                         See our student journalists' work