Local newsrooms are often asked to cover the economy — but rarely have the tools to cover economic mobility at a granular, data-driven level. One year ago, Local Media Association, Comcast NBCUniversal, and Opportunity Insights launched the Economic Opportunity Lab to change that.

In this episode of Keep It Local, host Ryan Welton talks with Dana Piccoli, Managing Director of News Is Out and Project Manager of the Economic Opportunity Lab, about what the first year produced: original reporting from 48 newsrooms and 10 NBC Telemundo stations across five regions (Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami, the Bay Area, and DC/Baltimore), and a new, free playbook for any newsroom, chamber of commerce, or city government that wants to do similar work in their own community.

They dig into how newsrooms partnered directly with researchers from Opportunity Insights to translate dense data — including the Opportunity Atlas — into personal, place-based stories on housing, education, and employment. Dana shares the story behind one of the Lab's most impactful pieces, a report on credit scores in Baltimore's Black community by the AFRO's Victoria Mejicanos, which prompted local bankers to convene a session to address the findings. She also talks about the role of trust and vulnerability in reporting on personal finances, and why public listening sessions were central to several newsrooms' approach.

The conversation closes with a look at what's next: making the playbook a living resource, helping communities find funding for similar collaboratives, and a reminder of News Is Out's LGBTQ+ media mapping project, which tracks coverage gaps for queer communities nationwide.

In this episode:

• Introducing the Economic Opportunity Lab and its one-year mark
• The scope: 48 newsrooms, 10 NBC Telemundo stations, 5 regions
• What's in the new playbook — and who it's for
• Common threads in the reporting: housing, education, employment
• Working with Opportunity Insights and the Opportunity Atlas
• The Afro's credit-score investigation and its real-world impact
• Building community trust through listening sessions
• Covering economic opportunity in the LGBTQ+ community
• News deserts, the $1 billion cost of losing local news, and why it matters most for marginalized communities
• What's next for the Lab

Links:

• Economic Opportunity Lab Playbook: https://playbook.economicopportunitylab.com/eol
• Contact Dana Piccoli: dana.piccoli@localmedia.org

Guest: Dana Piccoli, Managing Director, News Is Out; Project Manager, Economic Opportunity Lab

Host: Ryan Welton, Local Media Association

The loudest members of your audience may not be the most representative.

New research from Pew Research Center divides Americans into four broad groups based on how they participate in news, politics, civic life and religion: mobilizers, connectors, spectators and outsiders.

On this episode of Keep It Local, Local Media Association host Ryan Welton talks with Pew Research Center research associate Luxuan Wang about what those groups can teach local newsrooms about their audiences.

One group in particular should get publishers’ attention: spectators. They closely follow news and engage with information online, but they are far less likely to participate publicly in civic or political life. That means traditional engagement signals such as comments and public shares may miss a significant portion of a newsroom’s real audience.

Wang also explains why younger Americans may be more connected to news than conventional wisdom suggests, how social media and creators are reshaping news discovery, and why local journalism continues to enjoy greater trust than national news.

The conversation offers newsroom leaders a different way to think about one of journalism’s favorite words: engagement.

Read Pew Research Center’s report, “How Americans Are Engaged With News, Politics, Religion and Civic Life,” at PewResearch.org.

Keep It Local is a podcast from Local Media Association exploring innovation, strategy and the future of local journalism. Interested in sponsoring Keep It Local or appearing as a guest? Contact Lindsey Estes at lindsey.estes@localmedia.org and Ryan Welton at ryan.welton@localmedia.org.

What makes a local media company valuable to its community — and sustainable as a business?

Leo Cusimano has spent 34 years with Dallas Voice, including the past 13 as publisher. He joins Keep It Local host Ryan Welton at Local Media Fest 2026 to explain how his background in marketing and advertising shapes the way he runs one of the country’s most established LGBTQ+ media organizations.

Cusimano argues that publishers should stop thinking about simply “selling an ad” and instead build genuine relationships with advertisers, understand their marketing goals, and become long-term media partners.

He also discusses philanthropic funding, lessons from the Lab for Journalism Funding, expanding Dallas Voice journalism into an underserved community, and the powerful story of a reader who said discovering Dallas Voice helped save his life.

Plus, Cusimano shares what he teaches small and independent publishers about sales: You don’t necessarily have to become a salesperson. You have to learn how to build relationships and partnerships.

Keep It Local is a podcast from Local Media Association.

If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast or sponsor it and reach news organizations across North America, reach out to Lindsey Estes (lindsey.estes@localmedia.org) and Ryan Welton (ryan.welton@localmedia.org).