Our Mission & Vision
City Bureau is a journalism lab reimagining local media. We do this by equipping people with skills and resources, engaging in critical public conversations and producing information that directly addresses people’s needs.
Drawing from our work in Chicago, we aim to equip every community with the tools it needs to eliminate information inequity to further liberation, justice and self-determination.
Our Core Values
City Bureau makes journalism more democratic from the ground up.
We don’t believe in heroes. We believe in holistic, structural change focused on equity and inclusivity.
We want to build this movement together. We value collaboration, responsiveness and exchange. We know we are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us, just as we will hoist others to stand on ours.
We value and respect the process as much as the product. We will always be open and honest about our successes, failures and the processes that led us there.
We believe in place. Though we may have an impact nationally and internationally, we are committed to Chicago.
Racial Equity Commitment
City Bureau is a part of the Just Action Racial Equity Collaborative. We are committed to the ongoing racial justice work necessary to abolish racist systems and structures and build equitable ones.
For further reading on City Bureau's philosophies, please see our Community Engagement Guidelines and Notebook blog.
For more background on our work, check out our annual reports below.
City Bureau Co-founders
Bettina Chang is currently a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She is a City Bureau co-founder and previously served as Director of Chicago Programs. An editor by trade, her career has spanned roles and mediums, including trade magazines, traditional newspapers, digital audience strategy, product design, newsroom training, organizational development and non-profit executive leadership.
Harry Backlund is City Bureau’s Operations and Development Lead and the founding publisher of the South Side Weekly, a volunteer-run community newspaper in Chicago.
Andrea Hart is currently Membership Director at Tiny News Collective. She's a co-founder of City Bureau and previously served as Community Engagement Director. She is an award-winning media-based organizer and educator who most recently served as chief strategy officer for the Memphis-based MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. She also has a master’s of divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School and describes herself as a “proud queer Quaker.”
Darryl Holliday is currently a civic strategist and organizer. He is a co-founder of City Bureau and previously served as the Executive Director of National Impact. He's a Studs Terkel Award-winning journalist, founder of the Illustrated Press and reporter formerly with DNAinfo Chicago.
Learn more about City Bureau's impact across collaborative community-centered journalism reporting and projects here!