Eight local news organizations and two nonprofit groups will receive $50,000 total for their efforts to provide accurate information about COVID-19 to communities of color and non-English speakers in Colorado.

The Colorado Media Project, which is a grant-funded organization to support increased newsroom collaboration and capacity, began the Informed Communities Fund to increase access to locally-focused coronavirus coverage. The specific communities that the organizations receiving grants serve include Aurora’s Ethiopian and East African demographic; Spanish speakers in Denver, Colorado Springs and the mountains; and immigrants or refugees who communicate by SMS and WhatsApp.

“Media outlets and nonprofits serving immigrant communities are best suited to identify the information needs of their communities, and have long filled gaps left by mainstream, English-only media,” said Melissa Milios Davis, acting director of the Colorado Media Project. “These outlets and organizations are bridging language and cultural barriers to provide critical, often lifesaving information, and reporting the news through a lens of direct impact on communities.”

The grant recipients and their areas of coverage are:

• Denver Urban Spectrum (Denver metro)

• Entravision Communications (Denver and Colorado Springs)

• Immigrant and Refugee Center of Northern Colorado (Greeley)

• KSUT – Southern Ute Tribal Radio (Ignacio)

• La Tricolor Aspen Radio (Basalt; Aspen to Parachute)

• Mile High Asian Media/Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network (statewide)

• Que Bueno 1280 Radio (Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo)

• Rocky Mountain Welcome Center (Aurora)

• Rocky Mountain Multicultural Community Radio (Aurora)

• Southeast Express Newspaper (Colorado Springs)