Stipends available to support newsrooms in covering local meetings

Local journalism needs community voices. Whose will join next?

The Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications is partnering with the Granite State News Collaborative to train a new cohort of Civic Documenters, a community-powered journalism initiative to train residents to support local newsroom coverage of public meetings.

Civic Documenters attend local government meetings, take clear, accurate notes, and produce news-style summaries to support coverage by New Hampshire newsrooms.

Over six weeks, participants learn how to:

• Track and interpret meeting agendas
• Take effective, accurate notes
• Identify newsworthy issues and decisions
• Use AI tools responsibly to draft summaries
• Understand how local newsrooms work

No journalism background is required, and Civic Documenters are paid a $50 stipend per meeting.

The Spring 2026 cohort will include up to 15 residents of the greater Lakes and Monadnock and regions, Concord, Manchester and  Nashua. Documenters will be paired with one of the following participating newsrooms: The Laconia Daily Sun, The Concord Monitor, Keene Sentinel, Manchester Ink Link, Nashua Ink Link, and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript.

Trainings are held online, 6-7:30 p.m on Wednesdays, beginning Feb. 25. The final session is held in person at the assigned newsroom.

Anyone interested in the future of their community, who wants to play a meaningful role in local journalism, is encouraged to apply.

Applications are due Friday, Feb. 6, at laconiadailysun.com/civicdocumenters.

Participants will be notified by Friday, Feb. 13.