The Rapidian, a citizen-led news initiative in Grand Rapids which pays citizens for their involvement in community meetings, is linked to both a national network of progressive donors and City of Grand Rapids dollars.
The nonprofit publication was founded in 2009 to “fill a gap in hyperlocal news and empower residents to tell their own stories.” It specializes in reporting written by Grand Rapids locals and is meant to assist in “empowering the community to take ownership of their news ecosystem.”
Public Funding
The Rapidian is a division of The Grand Rapids Community Media Center (GRCMC), a public entity that connects multiple city media entities. The Rapidian even shares office space in the west side branch of the Grand Rapids Public Library with its parent entity, which also operates GRTV public access television and WYCE-FM community radio.
GRCMC, which positions itself in the market as a nonpartisan venture, is running roughly $500,000 in annual deficits, a figure which appears to be accelerating due in part to increased investment in The Rapidian.
The organization relies on City of Grand Rapids’ cable franchise fees for its revenue generation, including over $660,000 in 2020 according to an audit from that year. Despite these close ties to the city, The Rapidian maintains that its reporting of community events remains unbiased and independent.
“We retain full authority over our editorial content to ensure journalistic integrity and maintain a strict firewall between news decisions and funding sources,” a section on editorial transparency reads. “Acceptance of financial support does not imply endorsement of any donor, their products, services, or opinions.”
Leadership of The Rapidian told The Grand Rapids Herald it has a signed contract with the city giving it full editorial independence, though it did not share a copy of that document. The publication then directed The Herald to GRCMC Executive Director Starla McDermott, who did not respond to a request for comment.
Private Funding
In 2024 The Rapidian received a $10,000 grant from the California-based Internews Network under the name Grand Rapids Cable Access Center. That entity had over $2 million in total assets in the fiscal year ending June of 2025.
Since 2023, The Rapidian has also been associated with Documenters, a nationwide network founded by City Bureau which trains and pays citizens to attend public meetings and publish the results.
City Bureau is a part of the Just Action Racial Equity Collaborative and “is committed to the ongoing racial justice work necessary to abolish racist systems and structures and build equitable ones.” Documenters also partners with newsrooms in numerous blue cities across the country, such as Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Atlanta.
“Since 2023, we have been training and paying Grand Rapidians to record notes and audio for a diverse range of local public meetings, with a goal of boosting transparency and making what goes on at City Hall (and in boardrooms and auditoriums across the city) more accessible to our neighbors,” The Rapidian’s website reads.
City Bureau describes itself as an “innovation lab reimagining local journalism, civic media, and participatory democracy.” The Chicago-based group was founded in 2015 and reported that it paid out over $1 million to Documenters participants in 2024.
City Bureau has received grants and donations from a number of left-leaning nonprofits, such as the McCormick Foundation, which primarily supports liberal causes. The group in 2018 also received $1.25 million from Press Forward, a coalition which includes progressive donors like The Hewlett Foundation, Joyce Foundation and Ford Foundation.
The Content
Though the GRCMC takes public money, The Rapidian appears to curate the stories that it publishes, providing favorable framing for left-wing causes like DEI initiatives, as well as anti-police and anti-ICE activities throughout the city.
It also privileges authors and organizations seeking increased public funding, such as the School News Network.
The publication sometimes even covers hot-button national news. Earlier this year, for instance, it featured an interview with the director of a film about “the violent ethnic cleansing of Palestine through life under occupation in refugee camps.”
Write to jackson@grherald.com