News and Press

Independence Public Media Foundation Announces 2024 Community Voices Fund

August 13, 2024

three members of a Philly drumline dancing and performing

The Independence Public Media Foundation (IPMF) is pleased to announce the 2024 open call for the Community Voices Fund. The $800,000 Community Voices Fund supports projects in the areas of community storytelling, media for movement building, grassroot archives, and community-centered news and information.

A panel of nine community members with deep community relationships and expertise in the fund focus areas will review and select applications. Their decisions will be final, without influence from the IPMF board or staff. This community-led grantmaking process has become a hallmark of the foundation’s commitment to shift power to communities that have traditionally been excluded from philanthropy while also impacted by harmful media narratives.

The Community Voices Fund is open from August 13 to September 13 to 501(c)3 and fiscally-sponsored organizations and projects. Decisions will be announced in November.

IPMF staff will also host two virtual office hours on August 28 and September 4 to answer questions about the application process. Visit the open call webpage for more details.

Contact Enni Aigbomian for more information, enni@independencemedia.org

About Independence Public Media Foundation
Formerly known as WYBE Channel 35, Independence Public Media Foundation was founded in 2018 when WYBE sold its broadcast license as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s Broadcast Incentive Auction and received a one-time payment of $131.5 million. With these funds, IPMF is moving resources within the Philadelphia region toward community-owned media and internet, and catalyzing movements for justice through narratives that educate, inspire, and encourage action toward a more liberatory future.

Author

Enni Aigbomian

Enni uses storytelling and visual media to advocate for disenfranchised communities in the U.S. and abroad. Her work focuses on the African diaspora and Indigenous communities in the Americas, as well as the socio-economic rights of women and children. A communicator for social change, Enni has collaborated with international community media and nonprofits such as World Young Women’s Christian Association, Fundación CEDESOCIAL, Vokaribe Radio, and HOPE Worldwide, Bolivia.

Enni has worked with Philadelphia community media and nonprofits such as the American Friends Service Committee, FunTimes Magazine, and Philatinos Radio. She also served as the first head of communications at Read by 4th, Philadelphia’s grade-level reading campaign managed by the Free Library of Philadelphia. She sits on the board of Shelterforce Magazine, an independent publication that covers the worlds of community development, affordable housing, and neighborhood stabilization.

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