California newsrooms are a vital part of the California Local News Fellowship program, a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local reporting, focusing on underserved communities. 

The application period for the 2025-2027 Newsroom Cohort is now closed.

The fellowship program seeks newsroom applicants from throughout the state that:

• Have a strong track record of producing original local news coverage for their communities. 
• Understand and seek to meet their audiences’ information needs.
• Adhere to professional journalistic ethics.
• Support diversity and inclusion in their organizations. 
• And, finally, have a clear proposal for the fellow’s role and how they will support them.

Newsroom applications will be reviewed by the fellowship staff and advisory board and final selections will be made in late January 2025. 

We encourage you to revisit this page and to sign up for program updates in the 'Stay Informed' form in the footer.