NJ Spotlight

In the Shadow of Liberty: New Jersey Immigration

February 8, 2016 In a time of heated political rhetoric, NJ Spotlight has a unique opportunity for supporting in-depth coverage of a topic sorely in need of nuanced reporting: immigration. Today, NJ Spotlight — in partnership with Montclair State University’s Center for Cooperative Media — will launch a $30,000 crowd-funding effort to tell the story of how nearly 2 million immigrants live in the country’s most diverse and densely-populated state.…

PewResearch: America’s Shifting Statehouse Press

July 10, 2014 When the Community Foundation of New Jersey partnered with former Star-Ledger reporters to create NJ Spotlight, an interactive website that features high-quality, in-depth journalism that provides an understanding of the vital issues affecting our state, it was due to the relative lack of relevant and timely information about statewide and local issues.…

NJ Spotlight Looks Ahead

May 19, 2014 Our friends at NJ Spotlight, whose launch we funded in 2010, are marking their four-year anniversary with the hiring of a Development Director. Scroll down for more from NJ Spotlight. Michelle Ruess joins NJ Spotlight in the new position, funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation.…

NJ Spotlight Wins Journalism Awards

May 1, 2014 Congratulations are in order to our friends at NJ Spotlight, who have won several awards for reporting from the Garden State Journalists Association.  The Community Foundation of New Jersey is a founding supporter of NJ Spotlight, which features high-quality, in-depth journalism that encourages civic and community participation and provides an understanding of the vital issues affecting our state today in education, healthcare, the environment, and public finance.…

NJ Spotlight wins 4 awards from Garden State Journalists Association

May 1, 2014 NJ Spotlight, New Jersey’s premier online news and public policy source, has won four awards from the Garden State Journalists Association, including the organization’s top honor. NJ Spotlight writer Mark Magyar won two awards for his coverage of public finance and property tax issues, while Scott Gurian — who covers the Sandy recovery effort as part of a collaboration with WNYC/New Jersey Public Radio — was lauded for his coverage of the Sandy recovery effort.…

Evaluating the Nonprofit News Model

November 5, 2013 We’ve long been fans of the nonprofit news model, especially amidst the decline of newspapers and other forms of journalism in the United States. It’s why we helped launch NJ Spotlight, an online news website where “issues matter.”…

NJ Spotlight: Crime Up in NJ Cities

September 18, 2013 NJ Spotlight takes a look at crime in New Jersey’s urban centers and the numbers don’t look good.  Here’s what they found: Each of the six cities designated by the state police Uniform Crime Report as “major urban” — Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, and Trenton — reduced the number of officers on its payroll between 2010 and 2011, which is the last year for which statewide figures are available.…

NJ Spotlight Examines Post-Sandy Planning

July 24, 2013 NJ Spotlight recently tackled the tougher issues of rebuilding New Jersey in their aptly-titled, “Post-Sandy Recovery: Balancing Regional Planning and Home Rule.”  We encourage you to read it by clicking here. Here’s an excerpt from the piece that captures local tensions about rebuilding: Over the past 50 years, Lynch says he’s heard the growing calls by environmentalists for people and development to move away from the most vulnerable areas of the coast, places like Seaside Heights, Mantoloking and Ortley Beach.…

Dekker & Mooney Participate in Knight Foundation Panel

February 16, 2013 Last month CFNJ President Hans Dekker and NJ Spotlight Founding Editor John Mooney participated in a panel hosted by the Knight Foundation on “the power of partnerships in strengthening community information.”  Click below for video of their panel or scroll down for their recap of the event.…