Harvey World Herald newsroom receives $120,000 grant to grow operations

The newsroom will use funding to focus on diversifying revenue streams and supporting operational sustainability.

By Amethyst J. Davis

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Newsroom

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July 22, 2024

The Harvey World Herald has received a two-year $120,000 grant from the Square One Foundation in Chicago to support growth and development.

The newsroom had requested to renew a $50,000 grant, first awarded last summer. The foundation’s board decided to up the ante with a six-figure investment to advance nonpartisan, independent journalism in Harvey.

The Harvey World Herald will use the general operations funding to focus on diversifying revenue streams and supporting operational sustainability.

Launched in 2022, the newsroom currently has one full-time staffer and nearly 20 freelance staffers, including reporters, photographers, cinematographers, and a fact-checker.

The Harvey World Herald is Black and queer owned, led and managed by Gen Z and Millennials with an eye toward fulfilling a multiracial, intergenerational democracy in Harvey.

Prior to our launch, the community had been a news desert for several decades.

Author

Amethyst J. Davis

Amethyst J. Davis is responsible for spearheading the growth and development of the HWH, including outlining the editorial trajectory and content. She also produces “The Renaissance Letter,” our biweekly email newsletter, edits content, and fact-checks stories prior to publication. Amethyst was an administrator at New York University before launching her journalism career. She was previously a member of the Sounding Board, the community advisory board for Chicago Public Media, which includes WBEZ Chicago and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Amethyst is a 2023 Leader of a New Chicago award recipient, as recognized by the Field Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30.

In 2022, Amethyst was a Casey Fellow with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Black News & Views. She is a sought after speaker on community journalism and has given talks at institutions like DePaul University and the University of Kansas. Amethyst is a regular guest on City Cast Chicago.

She was invited by Harvard University to submit a 2023 and 2024 Nieman Lab prediction. Under her leadership, the HWH has become one of the nation’s most-watched hyperlocal newsrooms. The HWH has received national coverage in publications like Poynter, Harvard University’s Nieman Lab, the National Press Journalism Club Institute, and Editor & Publisher.

A Harvey native, Amethyst is a Brooks Middle School (’11) and Thornton Township High School alum (‘15) and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from NYU (BA’19). She is an alumna of the Data and Policy Summer Scholar program at the University of Chicago.