By Massarah Mikati

The Kansas City Defender isn’t like any other newsroom. In fact, founder Ryan Sorrell doesn’t even call it a news outlet, but rather a community organization. Since its founding in July 2021, the Kansas City Defender has redefined local journalism and community engagement by embedding itself within Black communities in Kansas City. The journalistic approach of reporting from a distance has no home at the Defender. Instead, the publication and organization actively partners with community organizations (in fact, many of its staffers are members of various advocacy organizations), creates abolitionist journalism and produces resources specifically tailored to Black residents of the city. 

“We view ourselves as one of many organs of the community,” Sorrell said. “And because of that, our role is to be in community with other people across the Black community.”

In other words, community engagement is not necessarily a concentrated effort at the Defender, because they are part of the community itself — and that is the Defender’s North Star.

Approach

1. Black People’s Voter Guides

Recognizing the need for election coverage that speaks directly to Black voters, the Kansas City Defender produces comprehensive voter guides focused on how political candidates and policies affect Black communities. These guides cover key local and statewide races, breaking down candidates’ stances on issues that disproportionately impact Black communities such as policing, education and economic justice. Instead of surveys and polls, the Defender relies on staff members’ deep connections with community members and participation in advocacy organizations to identify the most pressing issues and concerns facing Black residents in Kansas City. 

2. Partnering with Community Organizations

Unlike many newsrooms that maintain strict boundaries between journalism and activism, the Kansas City Defender embraces its role as an active participant in Black liberation movements. Team members are embedded in organizations such as Kansas City Tenants, a housing justice organization, Sunrise Movement KC, an organization fighting for climate, racial and economic justice, and Decarcerate KC, which advocates for policing and incarceration reform. At the end of the day, the main thing the Defender looks for in choosing an organization to collaborate with is an alignment of missions and values, and work that benefits Black communities — even if the organizations are multiracial. The partnerships with and participation in community organizations have opened up numerous opportunities for the Defender, the organizations and community members.

• The involvement with community organizations allows the Defender to stay ahead of developing movements and policy changes, and identify what the key priorities are that disproportionately impact Black communities.
• The Defender seeks to use its platform to advocate for community members and amplify grassroots organizing efforts, allowing it to “be an active agent on behalf of seeking justice for our community,” Sorrell said.
• The Defender and Decarcerate KC are collaborating to create a docuseries to shift public narratives on crime and incarceration. Through the partnership, the Kansas City Defender has conducted abolitionist journalism training to Decarcerate KC’s canvassers. Both organizations then conducted street interviews together for the docuseries. Decarcerate KC also has a weekly column in the Kansas City Defender.

3. Abolitionist Freedom School

In addition to reporting, the Kansas City Defender recently launched the B-R.E.A.L. Academy (Black Radical Education and Abolition for Liberation Academy). Inspired by the W.E.B. Du Bois Abolitionist Freedom School in Philadelphia, the academy was designed to teach radical Black history and movements, and also provide writing and narrative training to participants. In addition, students will be taken on field trips to different neighborhoods across Kansas City. The Defender also structured it to be intergenerational, with participants’ ages ranging from 11 to 86.

“Everyone will be on the same learning field,” Sorrell said of the intergenerational structure.

Results

• Increased trust: By working alongside advocacy groups and directly engaging with residents, the Kansas City Defender has built a loyal readership that sees the publication as a trusted source of information and social justice ally.
• Reader engagement: The voter guides have drawn significant community engagement. While they were created specifically for Black residents of Kansas City, the Defender has seen engagement from non-Black audiences who are curious to learn more about the issues impacting Black communities.
• Policy impact: One of the Defender’s main goals is to amplify the voices within Black communities that are often silenced, ignored or distorted. Giving a platform to grassroots campaigns has allowed the Defender to bring attention to community issues, such as maintaining free public transportation or stopping the construction of a new jail.
• Education & community-building: The abolitionist school and journalism training programs have equipped community members with knowledge and tools to document and advocate for their own issues.

Lessons learned

• Be in community: Rather than acting as neutral observers, journalists can produce more in-depth, nuanced reporting that is relevant to and builds trust with readers by making community engagement a part of their everyday lives. This can allow reporters to play an active role in social change while maintaining credibility and journalistic integrity.
• Complement your strengths: Partnerships with community organizations are an impactful way to produce your best work. The street interviews the Defender did in partnership with Decarcerate KC, for example, brought strengths from both organizations: the Defender had their journalistic reporting and interviewing skills, and Decarcerate KC had members who regularly canvassed and had relationships with communities.
• Flexibility is key: Engagement strategies should remain adaptable, continuously evolving based on community needs and feedback.
• Find mutually beneficial partnerships: Ensuring that community organizations receive tangible benefits from collaboration prevents extractive relationships and builds long-term trust.