The Adirondack Community Trust (ACT) in partnership with North Country Public Radio (NCPR) has received a $300,000 challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to invest in the future of NCPR’s ability to expand regional broadcast and digital news and information services with a special emphasis on creating the next generation of public media professionals.

With the required match, this project will bring $650,000 to $700,000 to the work of these organizations over the next three years.

The objective of the project, 21st Century Public Media on a Rural Map, is to make all NCPR platforms part of a single, integrated resource for the people of the Adirondack region—a resource that they can increasingly play a part in imagining and shaping.

As part of the challenge, this grant has to be matched with local dollars from local residents.

The funding is part of the Knight Community Information Challenge, which encourages community and place-based foundations to support news and information projects that inform and engage residents.

ACT and NCPR are two key organizations tying communities of the region together.

This partnership will take NCPR’s service to a new level by expanding its work on existing and emerging platforms and by deepening the integration of community participation in public media.

More residents will have access to information on a variety of platforms; they will participate in creating content and sharing information; young people will have an opportunity to work under the guidance of proven professionals to learn the skills of public media; and more people will connect with other residents of the region.

“With this Knight Foundation grant, ACT is making it possible for NCPR to do leading-edge work for our community. As an active collaborator on the project, ACT brings expertise, access to and input from people across the region, and a great reputation-contributions that are essential to the project’s success,” said Ellen Rocco, NCPR Station Manager.