The Arizona Local News Foundation announced Tuesday that 15 local newsrooms, including Independent Newsmedia, will receive an multiyear funding to expand journalism about education solutions in Arizona.

Thanks to $2 million in philanthropy already raised as part of a growing Arizona Community Collaborative, each partner newsroom will hire a new journalist to focus exclusively on education solutions reporting.

“We’re thrilled to be selected as one of the newsrooms to shed light on the underlying issues facing our Arizona school system,” Independent Newsmedia President and CEO Charlene Bisson said. “We look forward to adding a solutions-based journalist to our newsroom.”

With an end goal of creating measurable change around access, information and improvements to Arizona’s education system, the Arizona Media Association is also leveraging its Public Education Program network of more than 250 local media brands to disseminate millions of additional dollars' worth of local advertising about education solutions available to Arizona families.

“This is one of the most ambitious efforts in Arizona's history to empower local media and tackle one of our state’s most pressing challenges,” Chris Kline, President and CEO of the Arizona Media Association + Arizona Local News Foundation, stated in a news release. “With immediate effect, this collaborative will dramatically expand community conversation and launch new discussions about how to improve Arizona education for students of all ages. We are setting out to prove that collaboration at scale can create a better future for all Arizonans.”

In partnership with an expanding list of public, private and nonprofit community partners, this collaborative will also use progress and performance metrics to guide success.

Following a rigorous application process where 40 Arizona newsrooms applied, the 15 newsrooms listed below will act as launch partners for this education journalism expansion. Collectively, these newsrooms represent urban and rural communities on digital, print, radio and TV platforms:

• Arizona Daily Sun, Wick Communications, Flagstaff
• Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, Community nonprofit, Phoenix
• Arizona Luminaria, Community nonprofit, Tucson
• Arizona Republic, Gannett, Phoenix
• Casa Grande Valley Newspapers, Kramer Media, Pinal County
• Colorado River Public Media, Arizona Western College, Yuma
• Independent Newsmedia, Independent Newsmedia Inc., Phoenix
• KAET-TV, ASU Media Enterprise, Phoenix
• KOLD-TV, Gray Media, Tucson
• KPNX-TV, Tegna, Inc., Phoenix
• KTAR-FM, Bonneville International, Phoenix
• Nogales International, Wick Communications, Southern Arizona
• Prescott Newspapers, Western News&Info., Prescott
• Today’s News-Herald, River City Newspapers LLC., Lake Havasu
• Univision Arizona, TelevisaUnivision, statewide

This Arizona Community Collaborative is actively looking for more philanthropy to support this education project and is ready to expand to more newsrooms and add additional statewide advertising messages. New community partners interested in this mission should reach out to Nate Kelly, 602.252.4833, ext. 2, nate@azmedia.org.

Current community partners include Potoff Private Philanthropy, Arizona Education Economic Commission, Burton Family Foundation, Report for America, Scripps Howard Foundation, Flinn Foundation and Arizona Media Association.

Editor’s note: The above was republished from an Arizona Local News Foundation news release.