Lenfest Institute for Journalism

Program Eligibility & Criteria

These criteria are guidelines to identify who the program will best serve. If you do not meet the criteria exactly (revenue, etc.), we still encourage you to apply.

• You are at least 21 years of age.
• You are located in the Philadelphia region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania. Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties in New Jersey. And, New Castle County, Delaware).
• You are able to participate in virtual programming and have access to the internet.
• You identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or a person of color.
• You are a media entrepreneur. You are a media maker who has an existing business that has:
• Existed for at least one year;
• Demonstrated traction (customers, revenue, other community indicator);
• Earned less than $400,000 in annual revenue per year; and
• A desire to grow and/or deepen your commitment to serving your local community.
• You are a media intrapreneur. You are a media maker who may have launched an initiative inside of a news enterprise and wish to scale an independent initiative. You:
• Can successfully demonstrate you have started an initiative (a product or service) inside of a news enterprise; and
• Wish to launch and scale an initiative of your own outside of the news enterprise and you have a documented plan and prototype to develop it.
• You can commit 12-15 hours per month to this program.

Founder Profile

• You are deeply connected to and knowledgeable about the community you serve.
• You are interested in and passionate about growing your business.
• You are excited to connect and work in community with your peers in the ecosystem.
• You value collaboration, sharing knowledge, experimentation, sharing wins and lessons, and bringing ideas and solutions to the table.