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Buffalo’s Fire receives $100K grant from Luce Foundation for a community journalism project in Bismarck
Alicia Hegland Thorpe, Bismarck Documenters manager, left, participated at the Kaleidoscope Live! journalism conference in Charlotte, N.C. on June 25. Candice Fortman, Outlier Media, Detroit Documenters, contributes to the discussion. (Photo credit/ Jodi Rave Spotted Bear)
Bismarck Documenters program taking the lead for local civc engagement
The Henry Luce Foundation recently awarded Buffalo’s Fire a grant of $100,000 to fund the Indigenous-led Bismarck Documenters program. The Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance serves as the fiscal sponsor for Buffalo’s Fire to support programming of the Documenters chapter here in North Dakota for the next year.
“Our growing team at Buffalo’s Fire is thankful for the support of the Luce Foundation’s commitment to our civic democracy work that includes Indigenous participation in public meetings,” said Jod Rave Spotted Bear, executive director of the IMFA. “We launched our first orientation in May. The second training is next month. We’re looking forward to working with community members to engage in acts of journalism.”
Buffalo’s Fire is the first rural news organization and the first Indigenous-led newsroom selected to participate in the national Documenters Network. This program trains and pays local citizens to attend and report on local meetings. It’s a community pathway to democracy and civic engagement. The program is being managed by Buffalo’s Fire staff member Alicia Hegland-Thorpe, a citizen of the Spirit Lake Nation.
The Luce Foundation grant will support employees and local documenters. Documenters are paid between $20-24/hr to cover local civic meetings helping to close the gap on news deserts in the region and to empower citizens with tools to become civically engaged. Prior to receiving the Luce Foundation grant, Documenters has also been supported by grants from the Good Relatives Collaborative and the MacArthur Foundation.
To become a Documenter, one must attend a scheduled orientation session, take a small brief no-fail quiz, and sign up for an account. No experience is necessary, just a passion for accountability and civic engagement. The next orientation session will be held virtually through Zoom on Aug. 7. More information can be found here:
To learn more about the Bismarck Documenters go to the Buffalos Fire Documenters tab: https://www.buffalosfire.com/bismarck-documenters/
The grant ends mid October 2025.