The Plan
Community information districts will be designed to meet the unique information needs of local communities. The majority of the work that info districts fund must therefore address information needs that have been directly outlined by community members and stakeholders. The Community Information Cooperative will provide relevant tools, resources, and assistance required to meet those needs.
We are beginning our work in New Jersey, where ongoing efforts by organizations like Free Press and the Center for Cooperative Media have laid a foundation for success. In cooperation with local partners, we’ll identify three communities in which to develop the first cohort of info districts. We will assist local stakeholders in conducting a community engagement campaign, information needs assessment, and news product sprint as well as supporting a local ordinance or referendum campaign.
CiC staff are developing the necessary legal frameworks, market analyses, and community engagement blueprint that will inform and guide the creation of the first info districts. This blueprint will incorporate the best practices and fundamentals of community journalism, assuring that each info district is transparent, accountable, and trustworthy.
Once an info district is established, the Community Information Cooperative will provide the runway funding required to prevent a lapse in services while the fees are collected and the community funding is distributed.
CiC is actively seeking philanthropic funding to begin establishing info districts. The larger the cooperative grows, the more revenue it will receive from its members. We estimate that the establishment of 20 community information districts will be enough to make CiC self-sustaining. This will take a minimum of five to seven years of philanthropic support to occur.
