About Us

Our Mission

The Wyoming Local News Fund envisions a future where all Wyoming residents have access to the local news and information they need to thrive. To reach this aim, the Fund supports trustworthy, equitable and solutions-focused projects and organizations that contribute to a vibrant media ecosystem.

Partners

It takes many partners to support and build a vibrant media ecosystem across Wyoming. These are a few of the organizations at the table — but there is always room for more.

  • The Wyoming Community Foundationconnects people who care with causes that matter to build a better Wyoming.

    WYCF has long been a supporter of local media in Wyoming, provided financial support for the Wyoming Local News & Ecosystem Information Report and is the fiscal sponsor of the Wyoming Local News Fund. To donate to the Wyoming Local News Fund, please direct your gift to “an existing fund” and specify the “Wyoming Local News Fund.”

  • The Wyoming Community Foundation is home to Press Forward Wyoming, a local chapter of a national initiative to support local media across the country. The Wyoming Local News Fund and Press Forward Wyoming are working collaboratively to support and build a vibrant media ecosystem across the Equality State.

  • The Democracy Fund works toward an open and just democracy that is resilient in the face of change and worthy of the American people's trust.

    The Democracy Fund provided the seed funding to launch the Wyoming Local News Fund, and a generous grant funded the Wyoming Local News & Ecosystem Information Report. Over the past few years, the Democracy Fund has also provided guidance, support and connection to other local news funds and thought partners that supported the launching of this work in Wyoming.

Melissa Cassutt, Founder & Director

Melissa Cassutt has worked as a journalist and editor at publications across the Mountain West, including the Jackson Hole News&Guide. She was named the 2016 Wyoming Press Association’s Young Journalist of the Year and received the Wyoming Woman of Influence Award in Media and Communications in 2019. In addition to serving as the director of the Wyoming Local News Fund, she is also the Rural Media Manager for the Solutions Journalism Network.

Advisory Board

Representing communities across the state of Wyoming!

  • Chris Boswell

    CHEYENNE

    Chris Boswell holds a BA and MA in Journalism from the University of Wyoming, and formerly served as a VP for Governmental and Community Affairs at the University of Wyoming, Chief of Staff to Governor Dave Freudenthal, and as an agency director for Governor Matt Mead. He was elected to six terms representing southwestern Sweetwater County in the Wyoming House of Representatives, and spent two decades as a tavern keeper in Green River. Chris was news director for KUGR radio in Green River in the early ‘80s. He is married to Kathryn Paxton Boswell and is a Meals on Wheels volunteer.

  • Bruce McCormack

    CODY

    Bruce McCormack has been involved in Wyoming journalism for nearly 50 years. A native of St. Louis, Mo., and journalism graduate of Michigan State, he moved to Rawlins in 1976 for his first newspaper job. He was the editor-publisher of the Cody Enterprise 1984-2015. In retirement he continues to offer his services around Wyoming as a newsroom coach.

  • Rebekah Fitzgerald

    SHERIDAN

    Rebekah Fitzgerald has spent nearly 20 years in Wyoming politics and policy. From advising Governor Mead on key initiatives to managing energy policy programming with the Council of State Governments, leading communications for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and now steering Wyoming FREE as Executive Director, she’s tackled challenges across the state. A political science graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University, Rebekah’s love for local news started young as a devoted reader of the Buffalo Bulletin, growing up in Buffalo, and she’s excited about working to keep local news accessible to everyone in Wyoming.

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