City Bureau is an innovation lab reimagining local journalism, civic media, and participatory democracy. We equip people with civic skills, develop resources that directly meet people’s information needs, and create pathways for deliberative dialogue that strengthens communities.
We envision a world where all communities have the information, tools, and resources they need to actively shape their futures and cultivate a more responsive and just democracy.
Barriers to Civic Participation and Information –
Many residents want to engage with local issues and become more involved in improving their communities, but lack the information or support to understand how government works, find reliable information about decisions affecting their communities, or participate in civic processes that shape their lives.
City Bureau creates accessible entry points for civic participation through our Documenters program, Public Newsrooms, workshops, and civic education programs that equip people with practical skills to navigate local systems, access trusted information, and connect with others working toward community change.
Crisis in Local Government Transparency and Coverage –
Amid widespread newsroom layoffs and closures, thousands of local government meetings across the country go uncovered, leaving communities without vital information about budget decisions, policy changes, and public processes that directly impact their neighborhoods. City Bureau’s Documenters program trains and pays community members to attend and live-document local government meetings, building civic skills while creating accessible public information to help inform their neighbors. This proven model now operates in 20+ cities through the national Documenters Network, with custom award-winning civic technology and robust training and educational resources to support partner organizations in their local implementation of the program.
Inequitable Pathways into Journalism –
Traditional journalism education and hiring practices are narrow, expensive, and inequitable—creating barriers that prevent newsrooms from reflecting the diversity of the communities they serve and limiting what stories get told and how they’re covered. City Bureau’s mission is to reimagine local media: how it gets made, who makes it, and how it can better reflect people’s priorities and needs. Our Civic Reporting Fellowship creates welcoming pathways into journalism for emerging reporters from diverse backgrounds, emphasizing community-centered reporting that builds trust and produces journalism in service of community needs rather than just about communities.
City Bureau provides mission-aligned news organizations and civic groups with the core program model, technology, training materials, shared learning spaces, and ongoing resources and support to run community-powered Documenters programs that help meet local information needs, equip residents as paid civic contributors, and develop essential transparency mechanisms and infrastructure for local democracy.
Target Issues
City Bureau's Public Newsroom model provides news organizations with a framework to build generative relationships through collaborative events that combine trusted journalism, local expertise, and sustained dialogue to strengthen civic engagement and community power.
Target Issues