Editor’s note: This piece was updated on Aug. 5, 2016, to include DNC contributions by graphic journalist and VR/AR expert Dan Archer, the Youth News Team, and the NoVo Foundation.
This week’s Democratic Convention is taking place in our hometown. So, we’re reporting from both inside and outside the event on how nonprofit outlets and their funders are addressing issues at the center of this highly contested election.

Here are some initial observations; we’ll be updating this as we go.  Many thanks to our partners at LinkTV for securing us a pair of press passes—follow their conference coverage here.

  • Yesterday, at  #TheAtlanticDNC space, MacArthur Foundation President Julia Stasch led a dialogue on criminal justice reform strategies for Rethinking Crime and Punishment: A Next America Forum.
  • Criminal justice and police reform are high-profile topics here at the DNC. The #truthtopower pop-up exhibition pulls together work from top street artists, music and hard-hitting talks to tackle related issues. It’s produced by Rock the Vote in conjunction with the #Cut50 campaign and other local and national partners, including this cool blog about Philly street art.
  • Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!who recently led a panel on investigative reporting at our Media Impact Forum—is broadcasting live from Philly every day this week. Update: Another one of our Forum speakers, graphic journalist and VR/AR expert Dan Archer, was also in Philly covering the various events and protests. Check out his comics and sketches here.
  • Public media is here in force: PBS and NPR have joined up for election coverage for the first time this year, and we’ve also spotted a number of local outlets, including WHYY, WNYC, and WBUR. Update: The Youth News Team—a group of 25 Philadelphia high school and middle school students—was covering the DNC from their own teen perspectives. The group of aspiring journalists was made possible by support from the Philadelphia Foundation and the Knight Foundation. The students teamed up with WHYY, KYW Newsradio and other local outlets. Read more about them here.
  • Today, the NoVo Foundation hosted a panel called “Centering Girls and Women of Color—Harnessing the Momentum for Change.” Update: The panel focused on exploring the barriers and disparities facing women and girls of color. You can watch the panel in its entirety here. You’ll hear from women such as U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (Illinois): “We need to mentor young women to take our place in Congress … and at every level of government. If we are not at the tables of power, we will be on the menu, and our issues will be on the table.”
  • All week long, DNC attendees can catch hard-hitting documentary films at the Impact Film Festival.
  • While commercial news dominates the corridors and skyboxes here in the Wells Fargo Center, several nonprofit members of The Media Consortium are in Philly providing alternate viewpoints on the DNC, including:
  • Political conventions are party central, and the Sunlight Foundation is keeping a gimlet eye on who’s drinking with who at their Political Party Time site. Cheers!

Got a tip for us about a project you’re making or funding at the DNC? Let us know on Twitter: @mediafunders

About the Author
Jessica Clark

Jessica Clark

Research Consultant

Jessica is a research consultant for Media Impact Funders, and the founder and director of media production/strategy firm Dot Connector Studio. She is also currently a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project. Previously, she served as the media strategist for AIR’s groundbreaking Localore project, the director of the Future of Public Media project at American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact, and a Knight Media Policy Fellow at D.C.-based think tank the New America Foundation. Over the past decade, she has led research and convenings with high-profile universities and national media networks, including NPR, PBS, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, MIT, and USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. She is the co-author of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (The New Press, 2010), and a longtime independent journalist.