A spirited meeting of SRCCON 2025 attendees in Memorial Hall during the two-day conference. (Photo by John Hernandez)

JULY 16, 2025 – OpenNews, NC Local, and Newspack will create “Emergency Mode for News,” which equips local newsrooms with a plan and support to keep their communities informed when disasters happen, with funding from Press Forward, a national initiative to reimagine local news.

Local news organizations are critical lifelines during disasters. This project builds on lessons NC Local and others learned through reporting and collaboration during Hurricane Helene, incorporating those insights into a disaster reporting playbook. In addition, OpenNews will lead the development of a peer-learning program with a curriculum derived from the playbook and designed to promote relationship-building and mutual support before a newsroom goes into emergency mode. Newspack will advise on tools and techniques that newsrooms can adopt to respond to breaking news events and create open source software to help newsrooms publish breaking news and launch a fast-loading text-only site designed for areas without broadband access.

The funding is part of Press Forward’s Open Call on Infrastructure, which is providing $22.7 million to 22 projects that address the urgent challenges local newsrooms face today. The list of recipients is online at pressforward.news/infrastructure25.

OpenNews is a project of Community Partners, a 501(c)(3) that aims to create more equitable, just and vibrant communities. OpenNews supports journalists working at the intersection of journalism and technology, approaching their work with an ethos that emphasizes care for a community grappling with complex problems. OpenNews has more than a decade of experience running interactive events and programs that are designed to help journalists share knowledge.

NC Local, a 501(c)(3), is a statewide news organization dedicated to ensuring all North Carolinians have access to trustworthy information about how issues affect them. In addition to a new statewide newsroom that works in partnership with news and community organizations across the state, NC Local provides support and services to strengthen the state’s information ecosystem.

Newspack is an open-source publishing, revenue and analytics platform for trusted news organizations. A project of Automattic, with support from Knight Foundation and the Lenfest Institute, it is led by journalists and technologists who collectively have over 100 years of digital publishing experience. More than 300 publishers have signed or launched on the platform, including such notable publications as VTDigger, CalMatters, Capital B, The Voice of San Diego, Lookout Santa Cruz, Black Voice News and more.

Contact: Jessica Morrison, jessica@opennews.org

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Additional context about Press Forward award recipients

Press Forward award recipients are working to protect a free and independent press, ensuring newsrooms have safety protocols in place, mental health services to help reporters heal from trauma and burnout and legal resources to face challenges to their reporting. Others are strengthening newsrooms’ sustainability – tackling revenue and operations challenges so the field can thrive long-term.

Launched in the fall of 2023, Press Forward is working to reimagine local news nationwide. Together, more than 90 funders – from local community foundations to national foundations – have invested more than $200 million in the sector, including in news outlets in every state.

For more information, visit pressforward.news/infrastructure25.

About Press Forward

Press Forward is a nationwide movement to strengthen our democracy by revitalizing local news and information. Press Forward’s growing coalition of funders has committed to invest more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. Named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Non-Profits list, Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation. For more, visit pressforward.news.