Next City, Inc.

Our mission is to unleash the transformative power of solutions-based journalism to equip communities and their leaders with the knowledge and connections to reimagine cities as liberated places of economic, environmental and racial justice. We accomplish this by uplifting diverse perspectives and marginalized narratives.

Next City’s readers are the city-builders who share our vision for the transformation of cities. Our core audience consists of individuals working in city planning, finance, architecture, media, academia, transportation, the arts — or within any sector that must collaborate to make cities run more equitably. These are the thinkers and doers who often wear many hats in their communities. This dynamic group uses Next City as a trusted resource for professional education and exploration. The extended audience consists of the people who are part of the change process in cities: grassroots organizers, activists, advocates, elected officials, local business and nonprofit leaders, and voters. We aim to deepen engagement with core readers and expand our reach to a broader audience who can apply Next City’s information and ideas in their local communities.

Ultimately, our vision is a world in which people in cities build flourishing societies that liberate all of us from systems and cultures of oppression.

Next City publishes hundreds of stories on solutions to urban issues each year, leading ultimately to a narrative shift about what’s possible. We are a continual source of innovation and inspiration, elevating marginalized voices for diverse perspectives, and giving readers the knowledge and support they need to lead and influence change. We are journalists first and foremost, taking a critical eye to solutions, understanding what is working or not working, why and why not. Our main coverage areas include: economics, housing, transportation and infrastructure, arts and culture, environment and energy, and technology. Readers receive Next City’s content via our website, email newsletters, mobile app, curated e-books, webinars, a podcast, and the Solutions of the Year publication. Soon we’ll reach audiences “where they are” by piloting a network of news partners for co-publishing. We will continue to evolve Next City’s platform based on reader feedback or whenever technology presents new pathways for our journalism.

Our readers are engaged by stories structured like case studies and get inspired to replicate the solutions and ideas we write about in their own cities. Research has found that when news stories discuss potential answers to problems, readers leave feeling more knowledgeable and empowered to solve them. Readers are statistically more likely to act, to donate to support an organization, and to evolve their opinion. Where solutions journalism is healthy, America has more informed and engaged communities.

As solutions journalists, we are also connectors. We consider Next City events to be the incarnation of journalism. Events are intended to share knowledge about what’s working, to inspire, and to connect leaders with each other across sectors. Next City is one of the few places where people can meet across occupations about what it will take to truly get something done to make cities more equitable. Next City's webinars invite guests presenters to share lessons learned about a workable solution that they’ve accomplished. We produce dozens of informative webinars each year. The annual Vanguard Conference gets hundreds of applicants for 40 open slots within a selected cohort. The Vanguards are rising urban leaders from across the silos that separate efforts for change—beyond transportation planners, architects, bankers, investors, philanthropists, artists, media, government leaders, and more. The intersectional group experiences a city up close, traveling from one neighborhood to the next to learn from the leaders of solutions happening now. They immerse themselves in a city, learning from their leadership and from each other. The result is a network of like-minded changemakers, and that network is now more than 500 alumni strong.

Next City employs a small team of full-time staff members and engages more than 20 contract writers. The team has broadened the footing for its $1.2 million annual budget and deeply served the publication’s loyal audience — as evidenced by doubling the number of individual donors from 1,450 in 2017 to 2,928 in 2020.

Next City’s Board of Directors is a highly engaged governing group with 13 members coming from government, academia, philanthropy and the private sector, including leading thinkers and doers in urbanism. Both Board and staff are united in their conviction for economic, social and environmental justice, and motivated for strategic growth.

Next City models what it means to be a more just media with our selection of subjects, sources, and journalists. While Next City has proven to be a launch pad for talent, we want to go much further and establish a pipeline of editors and reporters while offering multiple journalists of color the opportunity to grow their careers at Next City and cultivate beats that directly lead to racial equity and justice in cities. Our goal is to reverse the lack of representation in civic media.

In 2016, we launched our annual Urban Affairs Internship for a college-level journalist of color. The internship has served six students and today the program is financially backed by a four-year partnership with the Emma Bowen Foundation, as well as aid from Next City supporters who donate during our spring membership drive. Established in 2014, the Equitable Cities Fellowship offers journalists of color a one-year freelance position to report on solutions that level the economic playing field for those who have long been denied equal opportunity because of power structures based on race, gender and sexual orientation. The nine fellows to date have gone onto roles such as managing editor for Greenbiz, public relations leadership at ProPublica, a reporter for the IndyStar, founder of their own news site, senior economics correspondent at Next City, and more. These programs deserve investment to scale.

We also support connections between individuals and between cities in a number of ways. The Vanguard conference selects 40 rising urban leaders from across the world to participate in a unique professional learning summit that is intellectually inspiring and deeply bonding for the cohort. After completion of the experiential think tank, participants, who are often entrepreneurs, community developers, activists, artists, designers, urban planners and sustainability experts, become members of the Vanguard network and continue to support Next City and innovative urban solutions as they grow and advance in their careers. We also host online events to engage our readers in deeper conversations about important urban topics and support connections across sectors as city-builders hone their networks. More than 10,000 people registered for one of our webinars in 2020.

Although Next City is now staffed by professional journalists, it was founded in 2003 by three college students who recognized cities were derided as sources of trouble instead of innovation. They started a magazine in 2003 by emailing their contacts and signing up volunteers. More than 200 people contributed to the first magazines.

As Next City celebrated its 15-year anniversary in 2018, the founders remarked on how true it kept to the mission. The magazine was intended to talk about cities “as a place where good things happened, and not just as a place where problems happened.” It was launched to delve into issues facing cities and create “a community of people to talk about those things.” Next City sought to “support the growth of a new generation of doers and thinkers on urban topics.”

Originally named The Next American City, the organization began publishing a quarterly magazine in 2003. What started as a black-and-white printed publication staffed by volunteers ultimately grew into a popular and influential magazine that reached 1 million people over the course of its 31 issues.

Today, Next City is a trusted voice on urban policy, reaching more than 2 million influential doers and changemakers via Next City's website annually. Another 170,000 follow coverage on social media, and 40,000 subscribe to newsletters. All are in search of ways that cities can be reimagined as truly equitable and inclusive. If you want journalism to spark change, your audience matters. And 74% of readers say they use Next City's reporting in their jobs. What jobs are those? More than 90% say they or their organization work toward greater racial equity.

To achieve the next level of expansion, we will add staff positions dedicated to advertising operations, partnerships and major gifts, and human resources. This expanded staff capacity will enable us to develop more and stronger relationships with advertisers and sponsors, and to launch a mid-level and major gifts program that for the first time cultivates donors above $1,000. Research shows these are areas where Next City can attain significant wins. Advertising income by one counterpart in our market has reached at least $1 million annually, and we capture roughly 10% of that tally by comparison. Major and mid-level gifts were responsible for 69% of individual giving for nonprofit newsrooms, according to the annual INN Index, but constitute less than 12% of giving at Next City. Individual giving is responsible for 36% of total revenue in other nonprofits newsrooms, but 14% at Next City.

Staffing also enables the capacity to pilot the national partnership hub model that extends our reach and impact. Next City can become an engine that powers our unique brand of journalism in news outlets across the country. By identifying and contracting with locally based co-publishing partners that are aligned with our vision, Next City can serve as a conduit for national funders seeking to expand conversation about equity.