The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund Thursday announced $590,000 in grants to 23 local news and community organizations.
The Border Belt Independent received $20,000 to help sustain its coverage of issues in Bladen, Columbus, Robeson and Scotland counties.
The BBI is a nonprofit that relies on grants and contributions for revenue. All content is free and there is no paid advertising.
“The NC Local News Lab Fund has been with us since we started nearly six years ago,” said Publisher Les High. “The Fund is intentional in making sure that news organizations in high-poverty, rural areas like ours have the resources to serve their communities with trustworthy, dependable news.”
In a year marked by natural disasters, federal funding cuts, and the need to navigate uncertainty, these investments back trusted journalists and communicators to reinforce a strong local news and information ecosystem that serves communities across North Carolina, the Fund said in a news release.
The Fund’s grant recipients are trusted local news and community organizations across the state that are ensuring communities can access reliable and useful information and make informed decisions about their lives. Building upon a round of capacity building and emergency public media grants distributed earlier this year, these grants bring the Fund’s total 2025 grants awarded across North Carolina’s news and information ecosystem to $1.49 million.
“Local news and community organizations make it possible for people to stay informed about what’s most essential—whether it’s understanding shifting policies about healthcare and food access, figuring out where to get a flu shot, or making sense of who was on Tuesday’s ballots,” said Lizzy Hazeltine, director of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund. “These grants expand and deepen the Fund’s support for trusted communicators across the state who are on a mission to keep people safe, healthy, and informed.”