Dallas VoicePublisher, Leo Cusimano

Dallas Voice is among 17 newspapers in Texas — and one of only three LGBTQ newspapers we know of nationwide — to have been included in the latest round of grants handed out by the Facebook Journalism Project, the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Local Media Association.

Dallas Voice was among the 350 additional grant recipients announced last week.

The grants are being awarded to support COVID-19 news reporting by helping fill immediate gaps for resource-constrained local newsrooms. The Facebook Journalism Project doubled the total grant pool to $2 million after more than 200 publishers applied in the first 48 hours after the application launched.

“The Facebook Journalism Project grant and the Local Media Association has been important for us on the front-lines, as we battle against the COVID-19 pandemic,” noted Dallas Voice Publisher Leo Cusimano. “As an essential business, it is important for us to get the vital news and updates to our community. Dallas Voice is a lifeline for the LGBT community as its premier media source, and support from this program helps in our survival.

“The importance of local journalism cannot be overstated here,” Cusimano added. “Local journalism matters.”

The grants are part of Facebook’s broader effort to provide support around COVID-19, including a separate $1 million in grants to support fact checkers and a recently-announced additional $25 million in relief grants.

Applications for these grants opened on Monday, April 13.

“Access to trustworthy, accurate and local information is critical now more than ever in our state,” a spokesperson for Facebook and Local Media Association said. “These small investments can help fulfill immediate needs, such as increasing frequency of publishing, tools to work remotely, combating misinformation and serving vulnerable and at-risk groups.”

In addition to Dallas Voice, the 16 other newsrooms in Texas selected to receive almost $85,000 in funding are Advocate Media, Austonia Inc., The Big Bend Sentinel, Copperas Cove Leader-Press, The Dallas Weekly, Houston Defender Newspaper Inc., El Paso Matters, The Kerrville Daily Times, North Texas Public Broadcasting (KERA), Orange Newsmedia, Rivard Report, Texas Metro News, Tribune Newspapers, Victoria Advocate, Wilson County News and Wise County Messenger. Each of these recipients received $5,000.

The other LGBTQ newspaper we know of to receive one of the grants was The Philadelphia Gay News and Between the Lines.

— Tammye Nash