Legal Clinic Fund for Local News
The Legal Clinic Fund for Local News is a collaborative $6+ million fund to support the growth and sustainability of legal clinics that seek to advance and defend First Amendment rights, media freedom, and transparency in their communities and nationally.
About the Legal Clinic Fund for Local News
Since 2019, the Fund has provided $6+ million grants to support the clinics’ growth, collaboration, capacity building, and experimentation. This Fund aims to be a catalyst for the growth and sustainability of existing clinics and centers and will provide newsrooms and journalists with increased legal resources and representation for those who are least likely to receive it from traditional sources. Ultimately, the Fund seeks to ensure that any newsroom or journalist who needs legal support can access it.
Connecting Journalists with Legal Resources
Currently, the Fund is doubling down on its efforts to connect journalists and news providers to First Amendment-related legal resources. We have engaged a Network Engagement Consultant, Christa Scharfenberg, to serve as a knowledge source and connector between the journalists who need support and the extensive network of First Amendment legal resources that exist across the country.
Newsrooms or individual journalists in need of support related to newsgathering, litigation defense, business matters or training can start by searching this easy-to-use Legal Resources Directory.
If you’d like help getting connected to a legal service provider for your specific needs, please schedule a time to talk via Calendly or email.
Current Grantees
Advisors & Partners
The Fund is grateful to have the following individuals engaged as thought-partners and advisors helping us to advance the work of the Fund.
- Angelica Das, Democracy Fund
- Jonathan Horowitz, Klarman Foundation
- Jonathan Manes, MacArthur Justice Center
- Jenny Montoya Tansey, Skyline Foundation
- Christa Scharfenberg, Berkeley Journalism’s California Local Journalism Fellowship Project
- Lillian Ruiz, Ci-X Strategies
- Anna Spandorfer, Klarman Foundation
- Josh Stearns, Democracy Fund
- Nabiha Syed, Mozilla Foundation
We are grateful for our current and past donor partners that have enabled the work of this fund.
Contact
If you’d like to learn more about the Fund, please contact the Fund Administrator at The Miami Foundation, Lindsey Linzer.