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The Steinman Institute For Civic Engagement Becomes Part of The Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund
The Board and Staff of The Steinman Institute for Civic Engagement have joined The Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund, helping to grow impact locally, regionally, and nationally.
In 2025, Press Forward Central Pennsylvania Chapter, operated by The Steinman Foundation created a Central PA Ecosystem Map and Report which will help inform our ongoing approach.
About the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund
The Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund’s mission is to strengthen connected, informed and engaged communities within Lancaster County. We invest in and catalyze efforts focused on community connection, sustainable local news and information, and equipping people for community engagement.
The Value of Local Journalism
According to the 2022 Report on the State of Local News, from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, an average of two newspapers per week have closed in recent years. This diminishment of access to reliable, timely local news disproportionally affects disadvantaged communities. This leaves low-income citizens without access to information about local decisions that affect them, including housing policy, policing, school board decisions, taxation, and governance.
Lancaster County is fortunate to continue to have strong independent local news reporting through LNP | LancasterOnline. For over 228 years, LNP | LancasterOnline has published a daily newspaper with ground-breaking investigative journalism, an increasingly rare commodity in this era. Other local news organizations, such as WITF and ABC27, also cover news in the region. This local news infrastructure is critical to supporting the high quality of life that residents of Lancaster County enjoy.
The Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund is dedicated to ensuring that our local news infrastructure is healthy for years to come. When you donate to the Fund you are supporting local news reporters who shine a light on topics that matter for everyone in Lancaster County.
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As seen in Balance Magazine –
Local Journalism is under assault
WITF reporter Brett Sholtis spent the last year and a half shining a light on people with mental health issues and how their encounters with police and the judicial system often result in incarceration rather than necessary treatment. That reporting included the story of a young woman with severe mental illness whose condition deteriorated as she sat in a Bucks County jail. As a result of the story, she was transferred to a state hospital… ( continued )
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