Amplify Colorado

An online guide to help newsrooms find diverse sources and community members to find local reporters

Diverse Source Directory

Amplify Colorado aims to ensure that Colorado’s local and statewide news coverage is more equitable and better reflects the communities it serves.

Information contained in this directory is voluntarily shared and self-reported by participants. It is meant to be used by local journalists to diversify news coverage and by community members to connect with their local reporters.

Want to be a part of this effort? Know someone who should be included in the directory? Add your name and information or suggest someone by clicking the button below!

coming soon

About Amplify Colorado

For more diverse media coverage to exist, newsrooms must find new ways to elevate the experience and expertise within communities of color. COLab, with generous funding from Colorado Media Project and in partnership with Spotlight PA, is developing a statewide diverse source directory to help local journalists better reflect the communities they cover. 

Amplify Colorado is a publicly accessible directory of members of communities of color with expertise and experience in subjects journalists typically cover. It also includes reporters’ and editors’ contact information to allow members of communities of color and marginalized groups to better connect with their local newsrooms. 

It is a direct response to calls from Black, Latinx, Asian, South Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Indigenous community members and journalists who gathered in 2021 and 2022 as part of the Colorado News Collaborative-led Voices Initiative

Voices members sought a tool to help move community members and journalists toward providing our state with more accurate, equitable, and inclusive news coverage. Being able to easily find each other is a step in the long-term goal of building stronger relationships between communities of color and local media.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to be included?

Individuals who identify as a person of color or part of a marginalized community are eligible to be included in the Amplify Colorado directory. We’re looking for sources covering a wide range of geographic regions and areas of expertise: from politics, to arts, to science, sports and more! Expertise also includes lived experience, so if you believe you can offer insight on any topic a reporter might cover, for example, the high cost of housing, finding child care, choosing a school, etc., please consider adding your name. 

Can I suggest myself? How about multiple people?

Yes and yes!

I want to suggest someone. What happens after I do that?

You'll need to include contact information. Our team will follow up with them to ask if they want to be included in the directory. If so, we’ll collect additional information from them.

If you don’t see your suggested person in the directory, it’s possible they chose not to be included.

What happens if I’m suggested for inclusion in the directory?

If you’ve been suggested for inclusion, congrats! We’ll contact you to let you know about it and ask whether you’d like to be included. If you do, we will send you a form where you can create your source profile. This will include information such as your biography, areas of expertise, social handles and the best way to reach you.

By filling out a source profile and agreeing to be listed on the directory, you’re agreeing to have others contact you. Appearing in the directory doesn’t require any kind of time or financial commitment, and you are not obligated to speak to anyone. However, we hope those who participate are generally interested in speaking to areas within their experience and/or expertise.

Will this create a list for people to be targeted?

While our intention is to help sources listed in this directory gain access to local reporters and editors, and vice versa, we recognize that information posted online is available to anyone. Given that, participation is optional and the people included in the directory have consented to sharing their information.

We modeled this directory after others like it, including ones in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Often, participants of such forums view them as a form of professional affiliation.

 

This project was made possible through unprecedented collaboration between dozens of newsrooms and journalists across the state, who are active partners in the Colorado News Collaborative, or COLab.

To support the statewide effort, donate to the Colorado News Collaborative.