Our Spring 2025 OVNF Grant OPPORTUNITY is closed

Both Ojai Valley News and Vida Newspaper, a bilingual, Oxnard-based independent news outlet, recently received two grants totaling $7,500 apiece from the Ojai Valley News Foundation: $2,500 for improved technology and $5,000 for more expansive emergency resource publishing — specifically, a four- to eight-page pullout insert focused on emergency preparedness such as fire evacuation, home-hardening, and crisis hotlines, with extra copies to offer free to the public.

OVN bought two 2023 M4 iMac desktop computers with the technology grant for reporters. “The funding for technology — two iMac computers — is essential to our news production because old machines are not supported by the software we use to build the newspaper,” said Laura Rearwin Ward, OVNF executive director and OVN publisher.

Rearwin Ward also spoke about the OVN’s emergency information insert, scheduled to be published on Friday, Aug. 8: “Not only will the funding allow us to create an evergreen special issue with fire-emergency information, it will help us to provide the issue to more than twice our normal reach. … Our site, which averages 95,000 sessions per month, goes up to 190,000 per day during major stories and emergencies, and those articles are offered free as a public service.

“For this special section, funded by the grant, we will be delivering free papers, and printing an overrun of the section to be delivered to schools, the library, City Hall, businesses, and in free racks around town. The digital copy will be available free online, and shared with our 15,000 Facebook followers and our newsletter subscribers. Contact the OVN at circulation@ojaivalleynews.com to request free copies to distribute.”

“Vida Newspaper holds a significant place in Ventura County’s Latino community, serving as a vital and only source of information, representation, and cultural affirmation since its inception in 1983,” said Vida Newspaper Publisher/Director Manuel Muñoz. “Vida Newspaper is vital to our community and we want to continue helping our community and we will continue with our work thanks to the grant from Ojai Valley News Foundation.”

Muñoz stated why OVNF’s grant will be a boon for “under-serviced” communities to receive critical emergency information: “As Ventura County’s only bilingual English and Spanish newspaper, Vida publishes content in both Spanish and English, ensuring accessibility of information for a diverse readership. … The resources provided by the Ojai Valley News Foundation will be used to create more local content and the elaboration of an emergency response supplement that will help our community in the event (of) catastrophe.”

“We respect and value the precious few local news sources that remain, and believe in their ability to unite, inform and empower communities,” said OVNF Board Chair Lalé Welsh, “and  congratulate our awardees on their leadership in this area.”

“I want to thank our community, and the board of directors at Ojai Valley News Foundation, for stepping forward with contributions that help ensure that our local independent newspaper continues and thrives,” Rearwin Ward added.