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About us

America Amplified: Our Mission, Our Team

About Us
Former Staff
Station Testimonials

The work of the America Amplified initiative officially concluded on May 2, 2025, leaving a community of impact to carry forward engagement efforts.

While the America Amplified team has signed off, its mission of empowering public media journalists with the skills and resources needed to put listening to their communities at the center of the reporting process continues.

We hope the resources and content published on this website inspire public media news organizations to better reflect America, build trust, and uphold principles of democracy. 

This site is no longer updated, but all of the resources and the final edition of the America Amplified Playbook remain available here for public use.

Thank you for being part of this journey. Keep listening. Keep engaging. Keep amplifying. 

About Us

America Amplified aims to help newsrooms organize engagement efforts by giving them tools, training, and the critical time needed to map an effective strategy for serving new and current audiences.

America Amplified was originally launched in 2019 to help public media stations better engage with their communities in reporting on the 2020 presidential election. Ultimately, the collaboration also helped shape public media coverage of the pandemic to include perspectives from communities across the country

In 2021 and 2022, America Amplified worked with 19 small and medium-sized public media stations across the country to expand the use of journalism practices that meaningfully address local information needs through active listening and engagement, especially in communities that have been traditionally underserved by public media.

The initiative was funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  

America Amplified strives to help stations put people, not preconceived ideas, at the center of their reporting process. We are sharing resources and tools to support stations in their efforts to listen and engage with their current audiences, as well as reach communities that are not yet part of their listening audiences. The public service mission of public media includes meeting the information needs of all communities.

Mission Statement

The America Amplified initiative will empower public media journalists with the skills and resources needed to put listening to their communities at the center of the reporting process. We seek to inspire public media news organizations to better reflect America, build trust and uphold principles of democracy.

The America Amplified Team has included:

Staff

Consultants

Meet our Advisory Board here

Testimonials

“The strategies and goals of this project are so worthwhile and inspiring – I have already been raving about this with campus colleagues. It is a transformative project to help us meet the times we’re in, and it’s so exciting that we’ll be getting this support and strategizing to take us forward.” — KBIA, Missouri
“The staff at America Amplified are breaking ground on community engagement efforts and I feel privileged to have been included in this fly-in where they shared their knowledge, inspired fruitful conversations with our peers and sent us home with meaningful ways to transform the way we cover our communities.” — WUSF, Florida
“I think this is what journalism SHOULD be! Being deeply involved with the community you serve, builds trust with the audience…and in this day and age, that is something we desperately need. :)” — KRWG, New Mexico
“The work the America Amplified team is doing to support collaborations and strengthen journalism is so much better than anything I have ever seen…You are proving how powerful local journalism can be” — KALW, California
“American Amplified has been a tremendous cheerleader for our work and has played a pivotal role in helping us ideate, discuss, and execute new approaches for our 2024 election engagement project.” — WNYC, New York
“The tracking system provided by American Amplified will be crucial in assessing our project’s success, securing buy-in for future engagement efforts, and attracting potential funders for this important work!” — George Bodarky, Director of Community Partnerships, WNYC
“America Amplified has given us the opportunity to serve our audience directly by answering their individual questions and giving them the information they need to make informed decisions this election cycle. Furthermore, the questions that are being asked are guiding our reporting as we cover the local and national races that will have an impact on our communities.” — KUOW, Washington
“America Amplified is giving us insight into what is important to our communities, and giving us the chance to serve them accordingly.” — Zaki Hamid, Director of Community Partnerships, KUOW
“Through the support of America Amplified, we have been able to identify underserved populations in our region and craft a mission-based strategy to expand our coverage to better reflect and reach them. The financial and strategic support we have received from America Amplified has transformed our newsroom’s approach to story visioning and community engagement to reach voters.” — Jenna Dooley, News Director, WNIJ
“During WITF’s collaboration with America Amplified, which began in 2020, community engagement journalism has gone from something we do to something we stand for. AA and WITF share a conviction that community engagement journalism is a crucial way to regain trust with people. We believe it’s working.” — Scott Blanchard, Director of Journalism, WITF
“America Amplified helps WUSF keep its eyes on voters and what issues matter to them. We’ve aimed our journalism beyond radio and now publish our stories as podcasts, as videos on YouTube and as Instagram reels. These outlets broaden the reach of public media and serve its mission of making quality journalism accessible to all.” — Mary Shedden, WUSF, Florida