Atlanta Civic Circle

About Atlanta Civic Circle

Carolina Public Press is an independent nonprofit news organization producing nonpartisan, in-depth, and investigative reporting for North Carolina. Founded in 2011 by journalist Angie Newsome and based in Asheville, the outlet began as a one-woman operation run from Newsome's kitchen table in west Asheville, covering the 17 westernmost counties of the state. It has since grown into an award-winning statewide provider of high-impact accountability reporting, offered free to readers, with a particular focus on underserved communities and underreported issues.

Carolina Public Press — often shortened to CPP — was one of the first digital-native nonprofit news outlets in North Carolina and has become a model for building sustainable local journalism from scratch. Its reporting has covered everything from the specter of fracking in the mountains to the woes of the state's mental health system to the decisions of the General Assembly in Raleigh, and its work has been recognized with state and national journalism honors. The organization's growth from a kitchen-table startup to a statewide newsroom is one of the notable success stories of the nonprofit local-news movement.

Founding by Angie Newsome

Carolina Public Press was founded by Angie Newsome, a North Carolina native who grew up in Davie County in a working-class family with deep roots in the state — her family has lived in Mitchell County for generations. Newsome discovered journalism in high school working on her school newspaper, earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed a reporting fellowship at the Poynter Institute in Florida. Her master's thesis was a series of stories on the closing of Beacon Manufacturing in Swannanoa, once the largest blanket manufacturer in the country, a project she has described as defining for her as a reporter.

After graduate school, Newsome worked for about four years at the Asheville Citizen-Times as a business and investigative reporter. Growing increasingly concerned about the spread of news deserts in North Carolina and the lack of credible news available to the residents who most needed it, she left the paper in 2007, worked as a freelance reporter, and began developing a business plan for a nonprofit news organization in 2009. She launched Carolina Public Press in February 2011 as the organization's sole journalist and executive director, working from her kitchen table in west Asheville to produce investigative stories about the issues confronting the Appalachian counties of western North Carolina.

Early Years and Nonprofit Status

Carolina Public Press launched in 2011 as a fiscally sponsored project of the Institute for Southern Studies, based in Durham, North Carolina. In the classic fiscal sponsorship arrangement, Newsome and her advisors managed the organization's editorial direction while the Institute provided operational support and the ability to receive charitable contributions. The organization incorporated independently in 2012 and earned its independent nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service in 2014, a milestone that enabled it to pursue further funding and establish its business operations in Asheville, where its editorial and training programs had been based since launch.

Early support included a $14,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation's New Media Women Entrepreneurs initiative, for which Carolina Public Press was one of four women-led public-service news projects selected from 227 proposals nationwide. The grant, administered by J-Lab at American University, recognized the organization's potential to produce in-depth, investigative news for an underserved region. Within five years of launch, the outlet had hired a small part-time staff, landed a correspondent in Raleigh to cover the General Assembly, and partnered with print and broadcast outlets across the state to amplify its reporting.

Coverage Areas

Carolina Public Press produces unbiased, in-depth, investigative reporting on the issues facing North Carolina, with a historical emphasis on the state's western counties and, since 2018, a statewide mandate. Its coverage has included the regional impact of state budget cuts, food policy and hardship, the future of western North Carolina's national forests, mental health system failures, education, the environment, and the decisions of the state legislature as they affect rural and mountain communities.

The outlet's Raleigh correspondent covers the General Assembly's actions with an eye toward their impact on the regions CPP serves, a distinctive approach in a state where capital coverage is often dominated by the interests of the largest cities. The newsroom has also produced special series on topics such as fracking's potential arrival in the mountains and the pressures facing the region's public lands. Its reporting is offered free to readers and is frequently republished or cited by partner news organizations.

Statewide Expansion

Originally focused on the 17 westernmost counties of North Carolina — the Appalachian portion of the state — Carolina Public Press expanded its coverage statewide in 2018. The expansion reflected both the organization's growth and the deepening crisis in North Carolina local news, as rural newspapers closed or shrank and left communities across the state without reliable sources of accountability reporting.

The statewide expansion brought CPP's model of community-listening journalism to new regions. Newsome has described building the organization by listening to the needs of North Carolinians who were struggling to find meaningful, factual local news, and the expansion applied that approach beyond the mountains. The organization has continued to prioritize underserved communities, reporting on the people, places, and issues that are overlooked by larger outlets.

Leadership Transition

After more than a decade leading the organization she founded, Angie Newsome transitioned out of the executive director role, and Kara Andrade succeeded her as executive director. The transition was discussed publicly in a question-and-answer interview with the Medill Local News Initiative, in which Newsome and Andrade reflected on how to build a sustainable quality news operation from scratch.

Newsome's advice for those hoping to replicate her success has been characteristically practical: if you don't know how to do something, find someone who does. The leadership transition marked the organization's maturation from a founder-led startup to an institution capable of outlasting its founder — a critical test for any nonprofit newsroom, and one that CPP navigated while continuing to grow its reporting and its audience.

Community Engagement and Training

From its earliest days, Carolina Public Press combined reporting with direct community engagement. The organization has conducted community training workshops on public-records access, teaching residents and local journalists how to obtain government documents and hold public officials accountable. It has also formed collaborative reporting partnerships with media outlets across North Carolina, extending the reach of its investigations.

The engagement work reflects Newsome's conviction that journalism's role is to give citizens the facts and context they need to participate in democracy. By training community members in public-records law and by partnering with other newsrooms, CPP has multiplied its impact beyond what its own staff could produce alone — a strategy that has become standard practice among the most effective nonprofit newsrooms.

Business Model

Carolina Public Press is funded through a mix of foundation grants, individual donations, and membership support, consistent with the nonprofit news model. Its early grant writing — Newsome wrote a slew of grant applications in the organization's first years — built the financial base that allowed it to hire staff and expand. The organization's independent 501(c)(3) status, secured in 2014, opened the door to the foundation funding that sustains most nonprofit newsrooms.

The outlet's content is free to readers, with no paywall, reflecting its mission to serve residents who most need credible news — including those who cannot afford subscriptions. The free-access model, combined with republication partnerships, has maximized the public-service return on its philanthropic funding.

Impact and Recognition

Carolina Public Press has been recognized as an award-winning provider of accountability journalism, with honors from state and national journalism organizations. Its investigations have prompted public debate and official responses on issues ranging from mental health policy to environmental regulation, and its reporting on the General Assembly has informed voters and policymakers across the state.

The organization has also been recognized as an institutional model. Its profile in the Medill Local News Initiative's bright-spots series highlighted how a kitchen-table startup became a statewide accountability newsroom, and journalism educators and funders have studied its path as an example of sustainable nonprofit local news. Newsome herself has become a mentor figure for a generation of nonprofit news founders.

Place in North Carolina's Media Landscape

Carolina Public Press was one of the first new digital news outlets in North Carolina and, at its founding, the only independent nonprofit digital media organization serving the state's western counties. It arrived as legacy newspapers were retreating from rural coverage, and it has spent more than a decade filling the gaps left by that retreat.

Today, CPP operates in a more crowded nonprofit news ecosystem that includes statewide outlets and newer local startups. But its deep roots in western North Carolina, its statewide accountability reporting, and its institutional maturity distinguish it. From a kitchen table in west Asheville to a statewide newsroom, Carolina Public Press demonstrates that ambitious, independent local journalism can be built from nothing — and can endure.

Access and Audience

Carolina Public Press publishes at carolinapublicpress.org, where its investigations, news stories, and special reports are freely available. The outlet distributes its work through email newsletters and social media, and its stories are regularly republished by partner news organizations across North Carolina.

Its audience includes residents of the state's rural and mountain communities, policymakers in Raleigh, journalists, and engaged citizens statewide who rely on its accountability reporting. For North Carolinians in news deserts and underserved communities, Carolina Public Press remains one of the few sources of sustained, independent investigative journalism focused on their lives.