Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
With every Philadelphia City Council seat<\/a> on the ballot next year and as voters consider whether to give Mayor Cherelle L. Parker<\/a> another term, a local nonprofit has awarded $1.4 million in grants aimed at promoting civic engagement. <\/p>\n \u201cEvery Voice, Every Vote,\u201d organized by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, is investing in 30 media organizations and 16 community groups to fund projects powered by professional and student journalists, multilingual reporting, and work focused on voter education and neighborhood coverage. <\/p>\n The Inquirer is among the participating media organizations and has been awarded a $100,000 grant to cover the project\u2019s upcoming public-opinion research poll and to produce multiplatform journalism focused on key city issues and the city administration.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a burgeoning movement of young, engaged voters nationwide becoming more involved in local politics and government,\u201d said Jim Friedlich, executive director and CEO of the Lenfest Institute in a statement. \u201cWe are hoping to help younger Philadelphians engage in the civic life of the city and make their voices heard. As the name suggests, we seek to help government hear every voice and compete for every vote. The earlier in life voters engage, the more involved they remain over a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n The Inquirer\u2019s reporting, mainly across the Politics & Government and Justice & Injustice desks, will include in-depth coverage of Philadelphians\u2019 perceptions of the city\u2019s progress in important areas including public safety, clean and green initiatives, housing, and the economy. <\/p>\n In a news release Thursday<\/a>, Lenfest said its grant-funded partners will focus on reaching younger audiences via short-form video, social media platforms, and \u201cindependent media makers\u201d or content creators. The effort will \u201cexpand access to trusted civic information and create opportunities for Philadelphians to make their priorities heard by candidates ahead of the city\u2019s 2027 municipal elections and by city government thereafter.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cFocus on reaching younger audiences and newer audiences and more diverse audiences is across all the media we\u2019re working with, very much including the Inquirer,\u201d Friedlich said in an interview.<\/p>\n Lenfest launched the project in 2023<\/a>, ahead of that year\u2019s 100th mayoral race and municipal elections with an intent to center voter voices amid important local races. As one of the grantees, The Inquirer reported on the first Every Voice, Every Vote poll<\/a> of more than 1,000 Philadelphians administered by polling firm SSRS and commissioned by Lenfest. The 2027 poll will also be conducted by SSRS.<\/p>\n Every Voice, Every Vote is now the \u201clargest-ever collaborative journalism and community engagement effort,\u201d Friedlich said, encompassing 365 civic engagement projects in more than 15 languages across more than 200 collaborations. <\/p>\n \u201cPhiladelphians need trusted information and meaningful opportunities to shape the decisions that affect their lives,\u201d said Shawn Mooring, Lenfest Institute Head of Philadelphia Programs. \u201cThese partners bring deep relationships with their communities and creative approaches to reporting, listening, and civic engagement. This investment will help more residents understand local issues, make their voices heard, and hold decision-makers accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n Other grant recipients include WHYY, WURD Radio, Technically Media, and the Philadelphia Tribune. PA Youth Vote will receive $45,000 for civic engagement purposes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min With every Philadelphia City Council seat on the ballot next year and as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[126121,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-307558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-every-voice-every-vote-lenfest-institute-for-journalism-philadelphia-municipal-election","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}