FAIRFIELD — Press Forward Initiative has awarded Sacred Heart University’s community journalism collective a $100,000 grant to continue its work in resurrecting the Easton Courier, which is expanding into Fairfield and Bridgeport.
SHU’s School of Communication, Media & the Arts Director and Professor James Castonguay, who is one of the leaders behind the Courier’s revival, emphasizes how important the grant is to the Courier, the collective and the university.
“One of the biggest challenges for a local newsroom is to become sustainable, and grants are a significant way to get closer to that goal, especially for a nonprofit community newsroom like ours,” Castonguay said.
Press Forward is a national philanthropic movement devoted to strengthening democracy by revitalizing local news and information. Funded by a coalition of over 20 major donors, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation, and housed at The Miami Foundation, it aims to invest $500 million to strengthen communities through local news.
It announced in April its first open call to fund efforts to “close the local coverage gap,” and awarded $20 million to 205 local newsrooms, at least one in every state, including the Courier.
“We are honored and grateful to have been recognized by Press Forward for the work we’ve done and to receive this grant to allow us to continue and expand the work of the community journalism collective,” said Castonguay.
Like many other local news outlets, in 2018 the weekly newspaper serving the nearby town of Easton was forced to close its doors. However, in 2020, Castonguay and other members of the University’s media, communication and journalism programs rescued and relaunched the Courier as an online entity. The Courier has since published thousands of stories from Sacred Heart students, faculty and community contributors.
The Courier is one of eight newsrooms affiliated with universities to have received a Press Forward grant, and its hands-on educational model not only provides immediate benefits to the surrounding community but also prepares students for future careers as professional journalists.
Moira Staples, a junior who writes for the Courier as part of her SHU class taught by journalist Ann Marie Somma, described the rewarding experience.
“Writing for the Easton Courier not only gives us the amazing opportunity to have our work published in an actual newspaper, but it also enables us to connect with our community outside of SHU,” she said.
Another student involved with the online paper enjoys the experience she has gleaned a the Courier.
“Having the opportunity to write for the Easton Courier has expanded my horizons greatly,” said junior Alyssa Termotto. “I enjoy reaching out to multiple people and getting different perspectives on stories then combining all the quotes into one cohesive and compelling story for the community.”
In an age when high-quality local journalism is at a premium, Castonguay is proud to be prominently involved with an outlet that prides itself on serving the community with only the most factual reporting.
“Easton is home to groups that frequently share information intended to shape voter opinion and influence policy,” he said. “These efforts include petitions for special town meetings, lawsuits, letters to the editor, social media posts, email and texting campaigns, and townwide mailings, often distributed shortly before referendum votes.
Since the revamp, the Courier has established itself again as a pillar for quality local reporting and news coverage. The new Easton Courier has won over 60 excellence-in-journalism awards from the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists since its relaunch.
Castonguay credits his Sacred Heart colleagues Somma, Nancy Doniger, Rick Falco, Keith Zdrojowy, Taci Batista and the late Jane Paley, for the publication’s success.
