Press Forward today announced that Dale R. Anglin will serve as the inaugural director of the growing coalition of local and national funders committed to investing more than $500 million to strengthen communities, democracy and local news. Anglin, a leader in philanthropy and journalism, brings expertise crucial to Press Forward's mission, particularly in fostering collaboration among funders to tackle systemic challenges, supporting local news initiatives and crafting initiatives focused on racial equity.
“We are thrilled to have Dale lead Press Forward in support of promising and proven models, a diverse set of leaders, and solutions that are ready to scale to revitalize local news,” said John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a Press Forward coalition member. “Dale’s deep experience in leading funder collaboratives, centering equity and growing nonprofit journalism initiatives will serve this coalition well as we continue to build a movement for local news.”
Maribel Wadsworth, president of Knight Foundation, said: “Dale's clear commitment to local journalism and extensive background as a philanthropic leader equips her well to lead Press Forward. Together, our growing group of funders will invest in new ideas, back new ventures, and provide a runway for journalism to succeed as a pillar of democracy in the digital age."
The local news crisis has left more than half of the counties in the United States with limited access to reliable local news and information, which aligns with an increasingly divided America. Press Forward, launched in September 2023, aims to catalyze a local news renaissance that will reshape the landscape and re-center local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation and government accountability.
Currently, Anglin serves as vice president for proactive grantmaking at the Cleveland Foundation, the oldest community foundation in the country, where she led the effort to invest in a regional network of nonprofit journalism initiatives, including the creation of Documenters Cleveland and Signal, the nonprofit newsroom of Cleveland and Ohio. From the beginning, the Signal newsroom was designed to reflect the community it serves, with stories sourced from community members.
“We are at a critical juncture in our democracy, with clear evidence that the lack of information is harmful to our country and is leading to a more divided America,” Anglin said. “Through Press Forward, we see this moment as an opportunity for reinvention, the time to accelerate investment in promising models and innovative leaders so that we can ensure that news and information are accessible to more Americans.”
Throughout her philanthropic career, Anglin has led multiple funder collaboratives that have brought together a range of organizations to address challenges. Earlier in her career at the Newark-based Victoria Foundation, Anglin led a collaborative that helped more young people enter college. More recently, she spearheaded Cleveland-based collaboratives that created a new system of integrated physical health and mental wellness in schools, addressed community violence and assisted the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Anglin’s experience leading racial equity initiatives will benefit Press Forward, where one of the four funding priorities is to close long-standing gaps in journalism coverage. In Cleveland, Anglin helped create a first-of-its-kind Cleveland Black Futures Fund, built the racial equity capacity of local foundations and raised awareness about minority students’ lack of access to STEM programming by commissioning the county’s first-ever report on STEM equity.
Before joining the Cleveland Foundation, Anglin was associate director for programs at the Victoria Foundation, where she was responsible for successful education programming. Anglin has served as director of resource development for New Community Corporation in Newark. She was the executive director of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management and was a social analyst for the Congressional Research Service, both in Washington, D.C.
Originally from Chicago, Anglin has a bachelor’s degree with honors in government and African American Studies from Smith College and a master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She served as an Alfred P. Sloan/Association for Public Policy and Management Fellow and was in the first cohort of the Council on Foundations Career Pathways Leadership Program. Currently, Anglin serves on the boards of Signal Ohio, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation and Adopt a Classroom.
Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation, which serves as its fiscal sponsor and manages a pooled fund and coordinates aligned grantmaking on behalf of participating funders.
About Press Forward:
Press Forward is a national movement to strengthen our democracy by revitalizing local news and information. A coalition of funders is investing more than $500 million to strengthen local newsrooms, close longstanding gaps in journalism coverage, advance public policy that expands access to local news and scale infrastructure the sector needs to thrive. Press Forward is housed at The Miami Foundation. For more, visit pressforward.news.
