The Steinman Institute for Civic Engagement

We believe in the power of communities telling their own stories, and building their own solutions together.

Latest Posts

Building the future of local news with our community
by Aaron Spangler
February 13, 2025
What can help local news become more responsive, relevant, and engaging for your daily life? Exploring those questions and more was the central aim of our first virtual listening session, another part of our ecosystem mapping efforts. While previous engagements have largely been with targeted groups, populations, or individuals, this session was open to the… Read more: Building the future of local news with our community
Where do rural communities get their news?
by Aaron Spangler
January 22, 2025
If the election has taught us one thing, it’s that there is a clear disconnect between much of our news infrastructure and rural/working class Americans. If you live in a community like Lancaster, Pennsylvania, you’ve known this for a while. But that doesn’t make the question of where rural folks who are skeptical of mainstream… Read more: Where do rural communities get their news?
Press Forward Central Pennsylvania launching with new survey on the state of the regionʼs news and information sources
by Aaron Spangler
December 3, 2024
Today, The Steinman Institute for Civic Engagement confirms the selection of Central Pennsylvania as one of the 20 first Press Forward local chapters across the country. The Steinman Foundation, a private family foundation that exists to support local communities, is the founding partner of Press Forward Central Pennsylvania (PFCPA). Press Forward is a national movement… Read more: Press Forward Central Pennsylvania launching with new survey on the state of the regionʼs news and information sources

About The Steinman Institute

Our community isn’t broken, even if it might feel like it.

Social media and big tech’s promise to connect us as has instead left us isolated, polarized, and with less and less ways to connect locally.

When communities can’t find common understanding, they can’t solve pressing problems. And when people aren’t informed about what’s going on in their area, they become disengaged, lonely, and lose faith in both their community, as well as their fellow community members.

At The Steinman Institute, we believe that communities can thrive if we are able to collectively share ideas, bridge difference, and take action.

Powered by community feedback and a five year gift from The Steinman Foundation, The Steinman Institute is working to seed opportunities for communities to better connect and learn about their neighbors, inspire new ways of creating shared understanding, and building innovative tools for community members to take action together on the things they care about.

Granting

We invest in local organizations working to build a more engaged and informed community.

Learn more

Bridging

We are building experiences that can depolarize, create empathy, and foster community connection.

Learn more

Action

We are developing new tools to help people not only learn about their community, but take action.

Learn more

Our tools for co-creating with our community:

The Steinman Institute is focusing its efforts first in the community LNP has called home for nearly 230 years – Lancaster County, as well as the surrounding counties.

Lancaster will be a laboratory for how robust local media plus education and engagement can result in a sustainable news models and improved civic engagement. It will be recording research, innovations and results to inform expansion within Central Pennsylvania and beyond.

Historic investments in local media innovation

The Steinman Institute has granted millions to Pennon, parent company of WITF and LNP | LancasterOnline to support new reporter beats, technology overhauls, launching a new Youth Newsroom, and additional youth programming focused on media literacy.

Learn more

Creating open-source tools for information seeking

The Steinman Institute is conducting the region’s first information ecosystem map to learn about the ways our community is getting its news and information to invest in what’s working, and co-create new tools to fill gaps.

Learn more

Promoting the value of local news

In partnership with Press Forward, The Steinman Institute is working to launch a national awareness campaign focused on the importance of local news and information, and the costs of losing reliable, locally-owned news sources.

A girl holds a prop in front of a green screen as a camera takes her picture

Bridging difference and driving action

Powered by conversation and connection, The Steinman Institute is investing in community engagement that can cut through divisions to focus on local issues, and commonality.

Through our work in Deliberative Democracy/Forums, we are creating connections across differences and working on tools to take action.

Learn more

About The Steinman Institute

The Steinman Institute is a part of Pennon, a nonprofit organization. Its seed funding is provided through a five-year gift from The Steinman Foundation. The Institute will seek additional support from public donations, corporate partners, institutional funders and contributions from the business community. It is managed by a Board of Managers and an Executive Director.