CPB Awards $4.4M In Grants to Bolster Rural Journalism in 8 States

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded $4.4 million in grants to eight public media organizations to expand local news coverage in rural and underserved areas through its new Rural News and Information Services initiative. 

The funding aims to strengthen community-focused reporting in regions often lacking consistent media presence.

“Public media is rooted in community,” said CPB Chief Operating Officer Kathy Merritt. “These grants empower stations to report on the stories, people, and innovations shaping rural life—ensuring these communities continue to be seen, heard, and understood.”

Key projects include:

• Wisconsin: PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio launch Rural Voices, using town hall sessions and existing rural bureaus to spotlight remote-area issues.
• Ohio: Ideastream Public Media adds an Appalachian Reporter and a Community Collaborations Editor to the Ohio Newsroom, serving five underserved southeast counties and sharing stories across public, nonprofit, and commercial outlets.
• Arkansas: KUAR, KUAF, and KASU form the Arkansas News Collaborative, a regional radio newsroom covering rural economic development, quality-of-life issues, and major changes such as new steel plants and shifting land use.
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  High Plains region: High Plains Public Radio creates the High Plains Civic News and Information Network, delivering multi-platform reporting across an 89-county area in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and Nebraska—averaging fewer than 10 residents per square mile.
• Appalachia: West Virginia Public Broadcasting expands Inside Appalachia Folkways, training local residents as reporters, in partnership with WEKU in Eastern Kentucky, to fill news deserts with authentic community voices.
• Tennessee: Nashville PBS partners with rural content creators and social media influencers across 72 counties to extend reach through Tennessee Crossroads and the digital series Jaunts.
• Michigan: WCMU Public Media hires a dedicated rural life and agriculture reporter for 35 counties, contributing to the CPB-funded Harvest Public Media collaboration on food systems.

The announcement comes as CPB begins winding down operations after Congress eliminated its federal funding. Having lost approximately 70% of its staff, the organization says it remains committed to supporting essential public media services through the transition period.

CPB emphasized that the grants reinforce public media’s core mission to inform and connect overlooked communities, even amid the organization’s uncertain future.