This year, the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network has fulfilled its mission to report on stories that matter to Arkansans. Among the highlights:
*A critical look at the pandemic’s toll on Arkansas teachers.
*The stories of Arkansas poultry workers facing COVID-19 on the job.
*An investigation into Arkansas’s unique criminal eviction law in a partnership with ProPublica.
This is slow, steady journalism, reporting that’s not beholden to the news cycle. It takes time and expertise to produce.
I founded ANNN in 2016 because I knew from experience as editor of the Arkansas Times that, aside from the largest news operations in the country, like The New York Times and NPR, most newsrooms lack the resources to do sustained reporting on complicated topics.
ANNN is able to hire writers, editors and photographers thanks to funding from grants and donations. Its reporting is then distributed for free among some 20 media outlets statewide, including radio and TV stations, newspapers and websites.
There’s never been a better time to support ANNN’s work. Through the end of the year, all tax-deductible donations will be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to the NewsMatch fundraising program. New recurring monthly donations will also be matched at their 12-month value.
We are also pleased to announce the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network now has its first dedicated staffer. In October, Benjamin Hardy became editor of ANNN.
Hardy was a longtime editor at the Arkansas Times, where he broke the Justin Harris rehoming story and steered a subsequent child welfare reporting project that helped prompt major reforms of state policy. He's an expert on Arkansas health care policy and deeply knowledgeable on politics and government. He was a 2018 Association of Health Care Journalists fellow, and in 2019 he was a research reporting fellow at ProPublica. He's also been the most frequent ANNN contributor and a key partner behind the scenes in developing the nonprofit.
In past years, ANNN has produced important stories on Rusty Cranford, a former lobbyist at the center of a massive corruption scandal in the state legislature; Arkansas’s juvenile justice system; and the state’s work requirement for Medicaid recipients. Help us continue this important work.
Contribute to ANNN at arknews.org or by sending a check to the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, P.O. Box 250746, Little Rock, 72225-0746. Donations are tax-deductible.