We are thrilled to share the news that El Tímpano has been selected to be among the first recipients of the Community Listening and Engagement Fund (CLEF) grant. The CLEF grant was created by the News Integrity Initiative, the Knight Foundation, and the Lenfest Institute “to help news organizations produce more relevant and trusted coverage for the diverse audiences they serve.

The grant will partially subsidize the cost of GroundSource, a platform developed for newsrooms to use text messaging as a way to disseminate information and listen to their audiences. The platform has been used by innovative local newsrooms such as the Listening Post in New Orleans and Outlier Media in Detroit.

El Tímpano will use the CLEF grant to pilot a two-way, Spanish-language news bulletin to share local news, information, and resources with subscribers as well as gather and respond to their stories, questions, and concerns. We plan to launch this pilot in early 2019.

We’re seeking further funding to hire a coordinating producer to support this new initiative. If you are interested in donating, head on over to our Support page. If you’d like to collaborate or learn more, get in touch with Madeleine at mb[at]eltimpano[dot]org.

Madeleine Bair is an award-winning journalist and media developer, and the founder of El Tímpano. Madeleine has been carrying a microphone in her backpack since she belonged to the Oakland bureau of the Peabody Award-winning youth media organization, Children’s Express. As Senior Program Manager at the international nonprofit, WITNESS, she led a pioneering initiative dedicated to advancing the use of citizen video as a tool for human rights. Madeleine has taught radio production to young adults, worked on a morning show at Chicago Public Radio, and produced multimedia for Human Rights Watch. Her stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Colorlines, and Orion, and broadcast on PRI’s The World and Independent Lens. She lives with her partner and son in Oakland, where she spends her free time making mixtapes, dancing cumbia, and exploring the region on bike.