For nearly half a year now, masked federal agents in unmarked vehicles have arrested our community members off the streets, from their places of work, and from their homes. Agents have acted in direct defiance of court-issued restraining orders, have refused mandates to unmask themselves during operations, and recent court decisions have functionally rubber-stamped racial profiling in our neighborhoods.

The staff at LA Public Press have weathered these horrors alongside the people of the city we love. We are Angelenos. Our roots run deep in the communities most affected—the communities we grew up in, still live in, and love to write about. Each of us has burned the candle at both ends these past several months, and we take great pride in how we have met the moment through both the depth and breadth of our reporting.

The LA Public Press staff.

If you are reading this appeal, we do this work for you. Millions and millions of you have read and shared our stories this year—a larger audience than ever before. We are humbled, we are grateful, and we vow to keep reporting with you in mind.

This has also been by far the most expensive stretch of months for our young and growing nonprofit newsroom. Securing our digital infrastructure in an increasingly fraught political atmosphere; supporting and compensating our expanding network of freelance reporters to meet the demands of crisis coverage; providing for both the immediate physical safety and sustained mental health of our journalists who are at the scene of ICE raids and civil uprisings; developing uncommon access to and protecting those involved in community self-defense patrols and rapid response networks: all of these very necessary efforts incur additional costs.

To ensure that we can continue reporting at our current pace, and that we will not have to scale back our operations in this critical moment, we have set an ambitious goal for this fundraising campaign:

We need to raise $300,000 by the end of the calendar year.

Corporate media consolidation continues unabated under the current administration. A small handful of the world’s wealthiest people already control the bulk of the US media landscape—television networks, newspapers and periodicals, streaming services, social media platforms, movie studios. Press access has faced restrictions not seen in decades. Public media has been aggressively defunded. The military was deployed onto the streets of Los Angeles.

Now is the moment to support local, nonprofit journalism. At LA Public Press, we know that good journalism is no different than clean water running from the tap. It is an essential public service. Useful and timely information, honest and thoughtful stories through which we can better understand our world: these are resources our communities cannot function without.

Like most public goods, journalism has long been under attack. There’s no going back to the old ways, and we frankly have little nostalgia for the past. The folks most harmed by systemic inequality have always been the same folks marginalized by mainstream media. As always, we’re also the ones finding and building solutions.

Together, we can develop values-driven journalism in Los Angeles—fair and accurate reporting of and for the people. But it will require our collective investment.

Every gift makes a difference — but monthly support is the most powerful way to give.

Monthly donations sustain our newsroom with predictable funding, lets us plan reporting months ahead. Monthly gifts also come with a gift from us!

$10/month → Stickers from LA Public Press!
$20/month → Stickers + LA Public Press tote bag!
$50/month → Stickers + tote + LA Public Press hat!

Make a monthly commitment or one-time gift today and help us reach our goal. Share this campaign in your networks. Reach out directly if you would like to support in other ways. It’s no exaggeration to say that LA Public Press would not exist without you, and will only continue to exist with your support.

With gratitude and in solidarity,

—The LA Public Press staff

(Photo credit Martín Macías, Jr. / LA Public Press)

Local news keeps our LA neighbors safe. Help us power it.

By Los Angeles Public Press

Local news keeps our LA neighbors safe. Help us power it.

We need $300K to bolster our independent reporting on ICE raids, fire recovery, and more.