The 51st

The 51st is a brand new worker-led local news outlet, made by and for residents of the District of Columbia. We want to make it easier to live, work, and play in D.C. Our founders – seven WAMU and DCist alum – have a collective 50 years experience covering the city. In our startup phase, we’re building this nonprofit in public and partnering with community members to shape it. Once we start publishing, we’ll cut through the noise to make living here easier and more fun: from holding the city’s bad actors accountable to celebrating what makes us love this place. What does it mean to be worker-led? It means we (the people making the journalism) and you (the community) decide where and how our dollars are used There is no “owner” as a worker-led nonprofit; our newsroom operates around principles of democratic decision-making and shared responsibility. What can you do to help us? Well, we have zero money right now. We’ve launched a fundraising campaign to cover the costs of building a news organization from scratch: legally forming our nonprofit, paying our writers and editors, and setting up the infrastructure for our newsletter, website, and community events. The 51st will be a public good, but we need the support of the public to make it happen. We believe we can make local journalism – and our city – better, and we hope you do too.