Lebanon County’s digital news outlet, LebTown, is expanding its popular coverage of local municipal meetings and introducing a new initiative to serve the county’s growing Hispanic community. The announcement was made during a community listening event at the Lebanon Community Library in October.
The expansion is funded by Press Forward, a national initiative dedicated to supporting local journalism in underserved areas. LebTown was named one of 205 recipients nationwide to receive a grant from the organization’s Closing Local Coverage Gaps program. The grant will help LebTown increase its reporting in Lebanon County’s rural and Hispanic communities.
At the community event in October, local leaders and residents emphasized the need for more media coverage tailored to Lebanon city’s 46% Hispanic population.
“We must listen to our Hispanic/Latino friends and provide to them what makes them feel the most comfortable and accepted,” Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello said at the event. “They are a growing and vital part of our community. Making them feel like they are an included part of our community is the appropriate action to take.”
As part of its expansion, LebTown plans to create a Spanish-language video podcast to interpret and explain its reporting for Spanish-speaking audiences. The project will also feature original reporting from Spanish-speaking journalists. In addition to the podcast, LebTown will continue to grow its Civic Impact Reporting Project, which launched in 2022 to provide comprehensive coverage of Lebanon County’s 19 municipalities. The project is reader-supported, with the goal of making it self-sustaining through ongoing community membership and donations.
“Readers are grateful for LebTown’s coverage and want us to continue growing,” said LebTown publisher Davis Shaver. “They know our values. Everything we do starts with trust – we optimize for trust in every decision we make.
“Lebanon County is home to a set of diverse and changing communities,” Shaver continued. “LebTown serves these communities individually while also bringing the entire county together around shared challenges, celebrations, and identities.”
With the Press Forward grant, LebTown also plans to pilot a program to distribute public notices from Lebanon County municipalities online, making them more accessible to taxpayers. The organization aims to increase engagement through email newsletters specific to each municipality.
LebTown’s membership program helps fund its reporting efforts, with members receiving exclusive perks like fewer ads, members-only events, and special newsletters.
“We’re lucky to be in a position where with just a little help we can make a huge impact – where we can show our community what they mean to us, why their stories are important, and invest in good reporting for a great community,” said Shaver.
For more information or to support the Civic Impact Reporting Project, click here.
Read LebTown’s original press release here.
