New Media Ventures’ Voices for Democracy Fund Provides Grants to 14 Local Media Organizations Combating Mass Disinformation in NORTH CAROLINA and Other Key Battleground States

Triad City Beat has been announced as a recipient of New Media Ventures’ Voices for Democracy (V4D) Fund – a pooled fund and open call to support trusted, community-centric media and messengers in states on the front lines of the battle for American democracy. The funds will be used to strengthen and support TCB’s continued efforts to deliver truthful, authentic and reliable journalism heading into the 2024 elections and beyond.

Triad CIty Beat is one of 14 organizations selected for the Voices for Democracy Fund, which NMV launched to identify and fund early-stage media outlets that are countering disinformation and serving their communities with culturally resonant messages in seven key states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The full list of organizations represented in the V4D cohort are:
● ARIZONA
Protect the Sacred (Harness Community)
Conecta Arizona
● FLORIDA
  Black Miami-Dade
  Miami Freedom Project
● GEORGIA
  Canopy Atlanta
● NORTH CAROLINA
  Refugee Community Partnership
  Triad City Beat
  Dirtroad Organizing
● NEVADA
  Make the Road Action Nevada
● PENNSYLVANIA
  Impacto
● TEXAS
  Trucha RGV
  OutSmart Magazine
  The Austin Common
● OTHER/MULTI-STATE
  Backbone Digital Leaders

V4D recipients – 78% of which are BIPOC-led – were selected from a review of over 350 applications and interviews with dozens of candidates during the Fall of 2023. Additionally, New Media Ventures enlisted an Advisory Committee of over 20 journalists, media funders, leaders from its investment portfolio, and other experts in local media and democracy to help narrow down the applicant pool.

Triad City Beat exists to chronicle the Triad cities as low-cost incubators of innovation, sustainability and creativity. We publish smart reporting and writing that recognizes the intelligence of our readers.
An informed citizenry is the lifeblood of democracy, and we take our responsibility seriously to provide good journalism to hold economic and governmental powers accountable, both locally and across North Carolina. Culture binds us, and we commit to provide lively and vital coverage of food, music and the arts in Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. We unapologetically focus on the cities, and won’t shrink from defending LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice and an urban sensibility. We carry the flag for no party or faction, and fiercely defend our editorial independence.

“We are incredibly honored to be part of this New Media Ventures cohort,” says TCB Publisher Brian Clarey. “Our market is slowly becoming a news desert, an environment ripe for abuse by bad actors and misinformation. With New Media Ventures’ help, we will shine our light of truth as the 2024 election nears.”

For the past 13 years, New Media Ventures has been a leading early-stage investor in companies and organizations that are building progressive power at the national level across three verticals:
Media & Narrative, Elections & Civic Engagement, and Advocacy & Organizing. Since its founding, NMV has mobilized $60M as first movers in nearly 140 startups, including national media brands
Blavity, The Juggernaut, Daily Kos, PushBlack, Upworthy, Pulso, and KweliTV.

“Given the declining trust in traditional news outlets and national brands, we believe that investing in trusted media and messengers, not just nationally but also at the local level, is essential to protecting and expanding our democracy,” said New Media Ventures President Carlissia N. Graham. “However, we are looking far beyond just the next one or two election cycles. Our long-term goal is to build trust and participation in bottom-up democracy by investing in and scaling an ecosystem of diverse, grassroots voices and outlets where access to good information is most in jeopardy.”

To learn more about the Voices for Democracy Fund, visit HERE. Follow Triad City Beat and New Media Ventures on social media at @triad_city_beat and @newmediaventures.

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ABOUT NEW MEDIA VENTURES
NMV invests in entrepreneurs and activists wrestling with the biggest challenges facing our democracy, and we apply the tools and frameworks of venture capital to the problem of building progressive power. We source, conduct due diligence on, invest in, and introduce impactful early-stage projects to the movement. NMV invests across three verticals: Media & Narrative, Elections & Civic Engagement, and Advocacy & Organizing. NMV has invested in nearly 140 startups over 13 years. We were the first institutional investor in Vote.org and Blavity; we were Swing Left’s biggest funder in its first year; we catalyzed an additional $700K of funding for PushBlack; and we raised the round of capital that allowed ActBlue to build ActBlue Civics, their c4 arm that now raises billions of dollars for non-profits.

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