Pasadena Media Foundation
'Sí se Puede' Annual Youth Essay Contest
César Chávez's Legacy: How Can We Learn and Make a Real Difference Today?
The “Sí se puede” Essay competition is a bilingual essay writing contest for Middle School students in English or Spanish with a cash prize. The essay contest is sponsored by Formative Youth Journalism Initiative and the Pasadena Media Foundation. The contest prizes are $250 for first place, $150 for second place, and $100 for third place.
The essay submission deadline is April 30, 2025.
Pasadena News Feed
Pasadena Media Foundation is the publisher of Local News Pasadena, a community-focused newsletter and Web site exclusively covering the Greater Pasadena area.
The origin of Pasadena Media Foundation began in 2019 when multiple journalists covering Pasadena were laid off by new for-profit publishers.
In 2020, Pasadena Media Foundation was created as a non-profit organization to help save local news by supporting Pasadena-area journalists. This involved providing many of them with critical tools of the trade, technical services and funding for expenses to get local stories told.
These efforts slowed the elimination of local news coverage, but the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic hit Pasadena’s news outlets hard. Some historically strong periodicals became so-called “ghost newspapers,” eliminating Pasadena-based reporters and publishing only a handful of local articles per edition.
In response, Pasadena Media Foundation created the online edition of Local News Pasadena to supplement coverage of local news. Combined with a weekly email newsletter and numerous social media accounts, Local News Pasadena delivers hundreds of original, provocative local stories in the making every year.
"Grant money from the Pasadena Media Foundation greatly benefited Pasadena Now at a moment when our financial survival was difficult and the grant will therefore bear fruit for many years.
Pasadena Now isn't backed by a big corporation or deep-pocket investors. So the grant received from the Pasadena Media Foundation was more than welcome, it was a blood transfusion! It allowed us to help pay for the talented reporters we desperately need to fulfill our mission in the community."
- James Macpherson, Publisher
Pasadena Now & Altadena Now
Pasadena Now isn't backed by a big corporation or deep-pocket investors. So the grant received from the Pasadena Media Foundation was more than welcome, it was a blood transfusion! It allowed us to help pay for the talented reporters we desperately need to fulfill our mission in the community."
- James Macpherson, Publisher
Pasadena Now & Altadena Now
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Our Mission to #SaveLocalNews
We are building a sustainable future for all Greater Pasadena area news and information organizations (essential for democracy to function) and to promoting high-quality local journalism within the community.
“Without revenue, you can’t pay reporters. Without reporters, you can’t develop consistently reliable news reports about what’s happening in your town. Without that reliable news report, you can’t figure out how to run local government. It isn’t rocket science.”
- Alberto Ibargüen, President Emeritus, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- Alberto Ibargüen, President Emeritus, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
"Trusted local information and the people and systems that gather and distribute it are critical infrastructure for communities, just like the people and systems necessary to provide housing, roads, electricity, clean air and water, healthy food, reliable broadband data networks, schools, healthcare and cultural institutions."
- Andrew Nachison, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
- Andrew Nachison, National Community Reinvestment Coalition
Our Shared Sense of Urgency
News organizations across the nation have been decimated by the collapse of traditional business models brought on by the impact of digital technology and social media. The Pasadena area is no stranger to these market forces, with multiple news outlets recently eliminating editorial staff, shifting focus away from local news coverage or shutting down entirely.
Readers and advertisers have been drawn to other information sources, especially on the Internet. As a result, many communities have turned into news deserts, with little or no local reporting. Information to minority communities is especially impacted.
In addition, our local news agencies find themselves responsible for an increasingly important role in the dissemination of accurate and crucial information.
Pasadena Media Foundation Receives Natural Disaster Response Grant for News Reporting
'In crisis, accurate reporting and information saves lives.'
[Reprinted from Local News Pasadena]
By Phil Hopkins
Pasadena Media Foundation, the nonprofit publisher of Local News Pasadena, is the recipient of a $10,000 journalism grant from the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). The grant, for California natural disaster news reporting, was awarded to the Foundation for Local News Pasadena’s role in “keeping your neighbors safe with factual information.”
The Institute went on to say, “In crisis, accurate reporting and information saves lives.”
Local News Pasadena publisher and Pasadena Media Foundation founder Sheryl Turner accepted the grant on behalf of the Foundation stating, “During this very traumatic time, most of the stories we’re writing are about the resilience of the Pasadena and Altadena communities. This grant will help us as a news organization to build our own resilience so we can continue to report and inform our readership.”
According to its Web site, the Institute for Nonprofit News “strengthens and supports more than 475 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to public service. From local news to in-depth reporting on pressing global issues, members of the INN Network tell stories that otherwise would go untold – connecting communities, holding the powerful accountable and strengthening democracy.”
INN’s California Natural Disaster Response Fund is made possible with support from the Google News Initiative, dedicated to working with the news industry so that global newsrooms and local papers alike can flourish.