Impact Stories

In March of 2023, the mayor of Salt Lake City, Erin Mendenhall, credited the Great Salt Lake Collaborative with bringing attention to the lake's environmental issues, which also have a damaging effect on the state of Utah as a whole. “With many thanks actually, I need to cite our great local reporters of the Great Salt Lake Collaborative who’ve been beating this drum for years,” she said, “and that combined with the national attention from The New York Times last summer, and that collectively has brought eyes and minds in an almost unbelievable way.” This acknowledgment from a high-ranking public official demonstrated the influence media coverage had on public discourse and government action. That same month, Utah’s governor signed a series of bills into law aimed at water conservation and saving the lake. One of the provisions was for the creation of a Great Salt Lake commissioner position to oversee the implementation of new policies. The water policy memorandum produced by the commissioner’s office, which provides an overview of legislation passed in the five years prior, stated: “The GSLC elevates attention to the Lake by increasing the number of stories about the Great Salt Lake and water in Utah. The water user community, and in particular state agencies, should proactively engage with the news media to ensure reporters have a complete understanding of the depth and breadth of the actions being taken to protect the Lake.” In September of that year, a coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the state of Utah, accusing political leaders and agencies of not doing enough to save the Great Salt Lake. The legal action’s case rested on the public trust doctrine, which was used successfully to address water shortages affecting Mono Lake in California. The Salt Lake Tribune, along with other publications in the collaborative, had produced a solutions-focused series a year earlier exploring, among other approaches, how the legal doctrine had been put to use to preserve the lake’s water.

Climate Solutions (2023): Climate Solutions, a collaborative of news outlets convened by the public media partnership StateImpact Pennsylvania, wanted to get feedback about its project from the community. It formed a listening group of nine people, which it assembled six times between 2022 and 2023, and asked how their behaviors had changed as a result of reading climate solutions stories produced by the collaborative. Those stories included coverage of home energy savings and responses to flooding, as well as a seven-part video series titled “What can I do about climate change,” created in response to a question that emerged from its engagement work. Twelve of the top 50 performing stories on StateImpact Pennsylvania’s website were solutions oriented. Participants in the group unanimously shared how they learned from the information and talked about it at work or in their personal lives. Some described a growing awareness of climate change and taking small actions in their day-to-day lives to mitigate its consequences or getting involved in local climate-focused projects.

In California’s capital, The Sacramento Bee, the largest local legacy newspaper, has been pursuing coverage of local climate solutions since the spring of 2023. In December of that year, the publication initiated a highly original community engagement approach by giving three $5,000 grants to local groups eager to develop an array of initiatives across the region. Fast-forward six months, and The Bee’s reporters produced stories on pollinator gardens developed in schools by students, a school compost program that could nurture a garden and a new agricultural program based on the principles of regenerative agriculture. Emilie Stigliani, The Bee’s assistant managing editor, said the “goal was to engage [supporters of the project]” and “explore how climate intersects with beats across the newsroom.”

Prime Progress (2023): Prime Progress, a Nigerian digital publication with an editorial focus on social impact and accountability journalism, has been publishing since 2021. By emphasizing its solutions journalism, it raised $50,000 from the Media Development Investment Fund’s Nigeria Media Innovation Program (disbursed in tranches over two years) and $20,000 from the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, a research center based at the University of Southern California. The latter grant will fund a project dedicated to “stories about how people are responding to social problems based on faith and spiritual convictions,” which will begin publishing content in early 2024, supported by the creation of a fellowship designed to train and commission writers.

9 Millones (November 2023): As a result of its deep community engagement in Vieques, an island of Puerto Rico, 9 Millones, a Puerto Rican digital publication, developed a methodology for pursuing similar projects in other contexts. Its rigorous strategy of goals planning, research, collaboration with local leaders, community needs assessment, reporting and shareback is in support of producing solutions-oriented journalism. Camille Padilla Dalmau, 9 Millones’ founder, has been invited to share the approach at journalism events and to replicate some of the community engagement initiatives in various settings in Puerto Rico and in the U.S.

The Current, a local publication based in Lafayette, Louisiana, used email, social media and in-person events to gather more than 500 responses from young people answering questions about key issues ahead of local elections, such as housing, quality of life and flooding. In addition to growing brand awareness, this outreach and engagement led to the production of solutions-oriented stories. The Current also produced a candidate questionnaire, which most filled out, and an election guide. Lafayette’s new mayor-president, Monique Blanco Boulet, took heed of the ideas for responses to housing issues presented in the solutions reporting and those discussed in public forums with local residents in shaping the policies of her administration.