Key Factors for Successful Community Media Initiatives

The ongoing need for community media programs has much to do with the dearth of diverse voices and representation within mainstream media outlets. Immigrants, communities of color, and other marginalized groups are thus limited in their ability to address local community concerns, to tell their stories, and ultimately create a "communication infrastructure that can foster effective community."

Nevertheless, there are communities throughout the United States that have been successful at developing and sustaining local media projects: community media centers, local newspapers, Internet-based tools, television and radio stations. In the ongoing effort to bolster established as well as newly established community media projects, it is important to highlight and share these projects' experiences, insights, and lessons learned between and among practitioners in the field. Factors that practitioners have described as essential to the success of community media projects:
Community participation and ownership, Leadership development, Partnerships and collaborations between local media producers and community-based organizations, Capacity building and training, and Project management expertise.