Support the Stories That Shape Chicago

2025 Chicago Independent Media Alliance Retreat at the Chicago Community Trust

At Public Narrative, we believe that powerful stories build power for the people. (Now) Through our leadership of the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA), we support dozens of local, independent, and community-rooted media outlets and organizations that reflect the true diversity, challenges, and resilience of our city.

Give today. Power the narrative. Change the story.

Chicago’s media landscape is in a moment of transformation. As corporate newsrooms shrink and vanish, CIMA-powered outlets are stepping up—telling stories that matter, serving communities too often left out of the mainstream, and holding power to account. But independent journalism can’t survive—let alone thrive—without community support.

Please join us as we raise money to support the sustainability of the Chicago Independent Media Alliance by enhancing the capacity and efficiency of membering newsrooms and media organizations through partner cultivation and facilitated engagement.

Your donation fuels:

  • Community-centered journalism and coverage collaboratives that reflects Chicago’s neighborhoods, cultures, and voices

  • Training and tools for emerging and established media outlets and organizations

  • Collaborative reporting that informs audiences and breaks down silos across our city

Public Narrative has been uplifting community voices for over 35 years. With your support, we’re building a stronger, more fair and just local media ecosystem—one story, one outlet, one neighborhood at a time.

OUR MEDIA GUIDES

We help guide the news ecosystem to produce news that matters.

Whether it’s training communities on the ground, gathering voices through our programs and events, or establishing strong partnerships to make greater impact, Public Narrative has worked through the decades to focus on what matters most–the people who shape our city through their voice and actions.