As the Community Engagement Lead at Charlottesville Tomorrow, I’m at the intersection of how we bring value to our community and how we sustain our nonprofit newsroom. I believe that strong local news creates spaces and opportunities for small businesses and our neighbors to be heard and feel a sense of belonging. Part of that is publishing and listening, but it’s also about showing up in person, talking to folks and lending a helping hand.
This year, we are partnering with the Tom Tom Festival to present critical conversations about how we get informed and learn about each other.
On Wednesday, we’re presenting a dynamic roundtable discussion exploring how community knowledge and lived experience can strengthen reporting and create more informed civic dialogue across our region. This 60-minute moderated conversation will highlight how listening to residents, neighborhood advocates and grassroots studies can uncover important realities that institutions and traditional decision-making processes might overlook. We’ll explore together how stronger relationships between journalists and communities lead to more responsive reporting, deeper trust and a healthier civic ecosystem.
Take action
Join Charlottesville Tomorrow at the 14th Tom Tom Festival!
We’re hosting a roundtable called “Rebalancing Power through Community-Driven Journalism.”
Wednesday April 22, 2026
10:15 to 11:15 a.m.
Common House (Please check the link because the location might change).
Find out more about the roundtable.
You can also meet our Director of Product and Technology in a lunchtime session about “Partnerships for Affordable Housing,” hosted by the CAAR Foundation.
Wednesday April 22, 2026
12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
Irving Theater, CODE Building
240 W Main St.
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Here’s more about the lunch and learn.
You can also learn more about Charlottesville Tomorrow at the “Partnerships for Affordable Housing” session on Wednesday. We’ll be there to talk about our Housing Resource Guide, produced in a community collaboration with the CAAR Foundation. Director of Product and Technology Ashley will join the conversation to help explain what it takes to build these kinds of resources and how our newsroom works.
And bonus! If you’re attending the Wednesday roundtable discussion on how people return from incarceration at 11:30 a.m. at The Vault, read Candace William’s First Person Charlottesville story before you go.
I’ve been doing community work for a while, and I know that community engagement doesn’t have to be complicated — it can be as simple as showing up and sharing our experiences. So we’d love to see you at the festival!
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