Arts, Culture, and Outreach: Hiring Local Leaders to Connect With Communities

By Jason Gigax January 2, 2026

On a Monday evening in downtown Washington, D.C., about 40 people gathered in a coworking space filled with striking portraits of children created by a local mixed media artist and educator. While the crowd was mostly adults, the event transported them back to school for the night.

The gathering marked the first edition of the trivia game show Ask A D.C. Native, Live!, held in May during the week of D.C. Native’s Day. The event was inspired by a column for The 51st titled Ask A D.C. Native, which invites native Washingtonians to serve as experts, cultural preservationists, and historians of a city often associated more with newcomers than longtime residents.

The game show was hosted by Dwayne Lawson Brown, a lifelong D.C. resident and the longtime host of Spit Dat, the city’s longest running open mic night. Beyond their creative background, Dwayne is a trusted messenger within D.C. native and Black communities, groups that can be skeptical of local media. With deep roots, credibility, and authentic relationships, Dwayne was the natural choice to host the event, even though The 51st was still a young newsroom with limited resources.

Dwayne volunteered to host the event, drawn by a love of trivia and a shared belief in a worker led local newsroom built by and for D.C. residents. That evening, teams competed across categories such as D.C. high schools, history and politics, and local music, with prizes donated by area theaters and businesses. For many attendees, the event served as a welcoming introduction to The 51st, offering a fun and engaging space to learn about the newsroom and share feedback about local news needs.

Following the event, Dwayne reflected on the experience in a blog post, noting that while the night was lively and successful, they wanted more than a guest role. They wanted to be part of a team building news in a way that felt organic and deeply connected to the community.

That conversation led to involvement in The 51st’s Community Connector program, launched in December 2024. The program hires individuals who have genuine connections with specific communities to serve as bridges between the newsroom and residents. The first Community Connector was George Kevin Jordan, a writer, artist, and Ward 7 resident. In June, the program expanded to include Dwayne, focusing on outreach to native Washingtonians.

Ward 7, a majority Black area with approximately 90,000 residents, has some of the widest social and economic disparities in the city. As the Community Connector for Ward 7, George has engaged residents through tabling at community meetings and farmers markets, hosting pop up events, distributing surveys, and holding one on one conversations. He also regularly reports his findings back to readers through blog posts.

Survey results revealed that many residents feel their communities are underrepresented or portrayed too negatively in local news. While trust in local media varies, a strong takeaway was that residents want to see their own neighborhoods reflected more accurately and consistently. In response, The 51st editorial team prioritized Ward 7 coverage, created a dedicated website tag to track stories, and published more than a dozen pieces focused on the area.

With additional funding from the Listening Post Collective, the program is now expanding. George is hiring two additional Community Connectors, one focused on in person engagement and another on digital outreach, to help build a broader understanding of the local information ecosystem. Dwayne has adapted the Ward 7 survey for native Washingtonians, shared it at community events, launched an Instagram video series spotlighting local leaders, and continues to host Ask A D.C. Native, Live!, which doubled attendance at its second edition.

Lessons for Newsrooms Working With Trusted Messengers

Early insights from the Community Connector program offer guidance for other newsrooms seeking deeper community engagement:

Look within your network. Trusted messengers often already exist among sources, freelancers, volunteers, and longtime readers.
Promote individual strengths. Allow connectors to shape engagement approaches that align with their communication styles and lived experiences.
Set clear goals and metrics. Even relationship driven work benefits from defined deliverables and timelines.
Be transparent and adaptable. Community engagement evolves through trial and error, and sharing lessons learned builds trust.
Seek dedicated funding. Treat engagement initiatives as core work deserving targeted resources.
Broaden recruitment over time. Once established, expand beyond close networks to include new voices that reflect the community more fully.

Through sustained listening, local leadership, and trust building, The 51st continues to refine a model of community centered journalism that prioritizes connection over coverage alone.