Dave Decker (L) with Meb Keflezighi (R) at Fred Ball Park in Tampa, Florida.
Courtesy of Ray Roa, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
By Reagan Haskell
In Dec. 2025, Ray Roa and James Howard, co-owners of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, launched the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP) to grow local and independent journalism.
Roa and Howard sketched the idea for TBJP in a search to raise $750,000 through tax-deductible donations. The purpose behind the initiative is to ensure independent journalists full-time jobs at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
“So, they only have to work one job, and they can live in the communities that they cover,” Roa told The Crow’s Nest.
They plan to expand their staff with four full-time editorial hires– a news reporter, an A&E editor, a food & drink editor and a staff photographer. The proceeds will also go towards their investigative freelance work, public records requests and legal reviews.
“We believe that the community should have more non-pay walls, high quality journalism and information,” Roa said.
TBJP has partnered with news outlets such as Cigar City Sounds, San Pedro Gazette, Tampa Monitor, The Gabber, The Sapphic Sun, Tampa Bay Arts Passport and WMNF.
These partners can take news pieces from each other’s outlets and republish it on their own site to increase circulation and accessibility.
“When I do a story, and it might get three or four comments on [Tampa Bay] Arts Passport, Ray will sometimes take that story, and it will get 200 comments on Creative Loafing,” Avery Anderson, the founder of Tampa Bay Arts Passport, said.
“I like the idea of local news, and I like the idea of independent news…” Sean Kinane, the news director at WMNF, said. “…News that people can access regardless of whether they have the resources.”
Kinane explained he noticed an increase in local content on WMNF.
Anderson said the collaboration between partnerships brings a sense of community and “destigmatizes” the journalism industry as being competitive.
“I think the more we can stand together and support one another, the better we all are,” Anderson said.
Donations for TBJP are through the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation and can be submitted at https://altnewsfoundation.org/cl-tampa/.
Post Views: 43
Written by: Reagan Haskell on March 3, 2026.
Last revised by: Julia Ferrara