Our friends at Press Forward recently published a ‘Five Questions’ article featuring Jenny Flynn, President & CEO of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, home to Press Forward Southern Arizona. Responses have been edited for length and clarity. (The above photo was taken while Jenny was recently partaking in a MacArthur-hosted meeting, focused on border journalism, at the San Antonio Area Foundation.)
Q: Why is local news and information important to you and your community?
Jenny: Until you drive through the Sonoran Desert, it’s hard to understand how vast Southern Arizona is. It’s about the size of Indiana and stretches across more than 350 miles of the U.S.–Mexico border. In all that space, we have contrasts: military towns and mining towns, world-class birding sites, historic barrios alongside endless strip malls, thriving suburbs, and vibrant downtown artist collectives. In a place this diverse, local news is the grassroots thread that stitches together communities, offering a low-cost, accessible way to keep people informed, connected, and engaged.
Q: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned since starting your chapter?
Jenny: I’ve been struck by how quickly people recognize the value of local news when it’s tied to what matters most in their lives — whether it’s holding government accountable, finding a fun spot for the kids this weekend, understanding why road construction is stalled, or uncovering why so many prisoners are dying in our local jail. Another surprise has been the wide spectrum of emotional reasons people support local journalism. For some, it’s nostalgia for the daily paper they grew up with; for others, it’s the joy of seeing their community portrayed accurately and with care. These insights have reshaped how I approach potential funders, making room for both practical and deeply personal motivations.
Q: What’s a unique challenge your community faces when it comes to funding local news?
Jenny: Southern Arizona is vast, diverse, and one of the country’s high-poverty regions. That combination creates unique challenges for funding local news. Audiences are fragmented across urban and rural communities. Advertising and philanthropic dollars are scarce, making sustainable revenue streams hard to build. Adding to the need for thoughtful investment, our stories often cross borders and cultures, reflecting realities that are bilingual, bicultural, and binational.
Q: If we were to visit your community, where’s the first place you’d take us?
Jenny: To the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona’s art-filled, solar-powered collaborative campus in midtown Tucson, where we are co-located with 20 nonprofits. Of course 🙂
Q: What’s a fun fact about you?
Jenny: First, let me share an amazing fact about our Press Forward Southern Arizona Advisory board, which is composed of community leaders and former journalists: They meet once every two weeks! That’s commitment.
A fun fact about me is that, as a park ranger, I led hikes across the tundra where there are no trails, which was surprisingly good training for my future career in community leadership.