Major Win: New Jersey Civic Info Consortium Secures State Funding

Thanks to a groundswell of public support, the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium — a landmark public-funding initiative that promotes informed communities and strengthens local journalism — will receive $2.5 million in state funds this upcoming year.

The NJCIC’s funding was initially slated to be zeroed out due to unrelated budget constraints, a scary prospect in these times when independent journalism is under threat and local news is disappearing due to decades of newsroom closings, reporter layoffs and corporate media consolidation. Thanks to the support of elected representatives, civic leaders and everyday New Jersey residents, the consortium will continue to invest in the future of local news to ensure communities around the state are informed and engaged.

We are living in a difficult moment where people need quality local news and information to help make sense of an increasingly chaotic world. The NJCIC is showing why it remains a bright light for the future of local news and information, coming at a critical time as attacks on independent journalism and free speech escalate.

Why the NJCIC remains a huge deal

Since its inception, the consortium has greatly benefited communities across the Garden State by investing public funds in news-and-information projects that improve civic life. Just days after the budget was signed, the consortium announced a major milestone: Its recent round of grants brought the public institution’s total grantmaking to over $10 million since the organization’s launch in 2021.

A first-in-the-nation project, the consortium has supported projects focused on diversifying journalism, improving government transparency, better serving communities of color and immigrant communities, and providing community-health news, among other crucial information.

Its creation, perseverance and statewide impact reflect how the nonpartisan public-grantmaking body is driven by the needs, voices and advocacy of communities across New Jersey.

Community input was a huge part of Free Press Action’s campaign to pass the bill to create the consortium. Listening sessions we held with communities across the state lifted up the kinds of news and information people wanted to see. Ongoing community engagement fueled the historic grassroots advocacy effort, and a bill once viewed as a long shot passed with wide bipartisan support. Once created, the NJCIC hosted sessions in every county across the state — and to this day regularly hosts public meetings — so that it can build trust with communities, and so its grantmaking can be directed where it is needed the most.

Public support saves the NJCIC

Earlier in 2025, when Gov. Murphy’s proposed budget eliminated funding for the NJCIC, supporters across the state of New Jersey launched a statewide advocacy campaign. The goal: Demonstrate the real-world impact of the NJCIC’s investment of public dollars in creating more informed and engaged communities.

The outpouring of support and advocacy did just that.

Journalism and civic-media leaders promoted testimonials from their communities about how NJCIC-funded projects were benefiting their neighbors. Former Gov. Tom Kean and former Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg — who sponsored the legislation creating the NJCIC in 2018 — wrote Op-Eds talking about the importance of local news and an informed public in a democracy. Longtime ally the Center for Cooperative Media engaged its network of newsrooms. The NJCIC organized a lobby day where people met directly with Trenton lawmakers and asked them to restore funding. Free Press Action members in the state called and wrote to their state representatives. And an advertising campaign made the public case for why preserving the NJCIC was essential to the state’s civic health.

Lawmakers took notice, and budget resolutions in support of restoring the NJCIC’s funding came in from a cross-section of lawmakers, including legislative champions Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald and Sen. Vin Gopal, as well as the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus. In the end, the public’s support showed legislators that it was important to continue the state’s investment in the NJCIC.

This latest campaign for the NJCIC shows that the public will organize and fight for the things they care about and that they see themselves in. The consortium has always been bigger than “saving journalism.” Everyday people may or may not care about the media, but they do care about their communities and their neighbors — and they know the role news and information play where they live.

That’s why people continue to fight for the consortium — it’s community-driven public policy that is making a genuine difference in the lives of everyday New Jerseyans. 

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