We’re thrilled to introduce the four colleges selected for 2025 Community News Transformation Grants, a new collaborative initiative from the Journalism + Design Lab and the New Mexico Local News Fund. These grants support bold, community-rooted journalism and media projects housed at New Mexico’s community colleges.
Each selected college will receive $77,000 in funding and join a two-year learning cohort focused on creating free training opportunities and sustainable pathways for more people to gather and share reliable local news and information, whether through jobs, internships, fellowships, or entrepreneurship.
Working hand-in-hand with community partners from public radio stations and hyperlocal media outlets to libraries and area high schools, these colleges are helping to shape a more inclusive, responsive, and sustainable news ecosystem—one rooted in the needs and voices of New Mexicans.
Learn more about the cohort colleges’ projects and partners below, and visit the New Mexico Local News Fund’s website to hear about the ways the Fund supports New Mexico’s local news ecosystem. For updates about the Community News Transformation Grant program, sign up for J+D’s newsletter.
The 2025-2027 grantees are:
Doña Ana Community College
Project Team: Denise LaFrance-Ojinaga, Matthew Burns, Laura de la Cruz, Lisanne Grant, Agnes Saltman (DACC), Damien Willis (Organ Mountain News), and Udell Vigil (Independent Consultant)
DACC’s Community Centered Journalism (CCJ) project will bridge the gap between traditional journalism and community needs by expanding the reach of existing journalism coursework and developing mentorship and internship pathways with local news organizations. CCJ participants will learn how to create news products–like newsletters–that respond to community needs and get hands-on experience in covering community issues through partnerships with outlets like the Organ Mountain News.
Santa Fe Community College
Project Team: Tazbah McCullah and Rob Hochschild (KSFR) and Doreen Gallegos and Milton Riese (SFCC)
A collaboration with Santa Fe Public Radio (KSFR), SFCC’s project “Exploring New Horizons in Santa Fe” will recruit students from local high schools and rural communities, including Pueblo communities, to learn skills in the mediums of audio and video, including digital and terrestrial production in radio, film, and television. Participants will receive training, get access to hands-on modules for each of the mediums involved, and collaborate with Santa Fe-area media partners to produce and deliver journalism that helps their communities. SFCC aims to integrate the project into its SFCC Mosaica program and create a noncredit community journalism credential or certificate.
Eastern New Mexico University–Roswell
Project Team: Shawn Hughes, Candace Cantu, Shawn Powell, Harry Tackett (ENMU-Roswell)
Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell’s “Beaming Up the Future of Community News” will use the 2026 Air Races as a launchpad for a media arts and journalism initiative focused on real-world storytelling and civic engagement. Students will gain hands-on experience in interviewing, video production, and podcasting while collaborating with community members to report on local issues. Coverage of the races will spark broader conversations about economic development, tourism, education, and civic life. By embedding this work into existing courses, students will develop essential technical and storytelling skills while producing content that informs and reflects the Pecos Valley community.
Southeast New Mexico College
Project Team: Jonathan Chandler, Zane Biebelle, Alexis Clements, Sky Soto (SENMC) and Kyle Marksteiner (Carlsbad Local)
SENMC’s “Community Journalism Collective” will build a more resilient local news system in Eddy County, NM by leveraging a collective of local partners, including newspapers, radio stations, libraries, and the United Way, to develop trainings for community members and sustainable career pathways for people to apply their skills. Key activities include storytelling workshops, a digital news hub hosted by SENMC, journalism bootcamps, paid fellowships, and mentorships with working journalists.
The Community News Transformation Grant program was launched with support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation. The initiative is also part of Press Forward’s recent three-year, $1.5 million investment in the Journalism + Design Lab’s model, which positions community colleges as vital to resilient local news infrastructure. Press Forward is a national initiative to reimagine local news; learn more at pressforward.news.