San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/lila-lahood/page/4/)
Lila LaHood is the publisher of the San Francisco Public Press. She has worked as a nonprofit consultant, and as a freelance writer and editor. She was previously a business writer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she covered retail and real estate. Lila has an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. She is a current member and past-president of the board of directors of the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Wracking your brain to come up with the perfect present for your favorite newsie? Have we got a gift for you! Check out our 2017 holiday gift package, which includes:
A one-year membership with the San Francisco Public Press — including home delivery of the next four issues, beginning with Issue 24 in February 2018. Delivered by bicycle in San Francisco. Your recipient’s name listed as a member in the next four issues.
Board of Supervisors President London Breed becomes acting mayor of San Francisco after the death of Ed Lee. She is the city’s first female African-American chief executive, and the first woman in the job since Dianne Feinstein took over in 1978 after Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated in City Hall.
The Public Press is delighted to announce that it has received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism for $9,000 — the third grant it has received from the foundation. The Public Press will report in 2018 on the role of the Silicon Valley tech industry in dealing with issues of data security.
Updated with additional links on Oct. 16, 2017. Dear readers,
The North Bay fires are the most important story in our region this week. And the rescue, recovery and rebuilding efforts that will emerge from this devastation will dominate headlines and draw our collective attention for months and years to come. As you know, the San Francisco Public Press focuses on long-term, local in-depth investigations.
In the Summer 2017 issue of the San Francico Public Press, we examine the city’s efforts to help homeless people through initiatives in place for years and ones that are expanding under the new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. Some are experimental, which can be challenging for the people seeking services and for those trying to administer them while working out policy kinks.
The San Francisco Public Press received two new grants this summer for investigative reporting projects: a $3,000 grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism for follow-up reporting on sea level rise in the Bay Area — the focus of our investigative report in Issue No. 17 — and a $10,000 grant from Cal Humanities for an education reporting project. This is the Public Press’ first grant from Cal Humanities and its fifth grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. We are grateful to Cal Humanities and the Fund for Investigative Journalism for their support.
On July 26, 2016 the Federal Communications Commission granted a broadcast license to the San Francisco Public Press for a low-power FM (LPFM) radio station on the frequency 102.5 FM. The station will be on air seven days a week, 12 hours a day, in two six-hour blocks.The frequency will be shared with another nonprofit organization, San Francisco Community Radio. The two organizations intend to collaborate on building a transmitter in San Francisco that will reach most households in the city and possibly reach parts of the Peninsula and the East Bay. For the time being the plan is to maintain two separate studios. Our aim is to start broadcasting within 18 months.
The San Francisco Public Press has been named a finalist in the Education Writers Association’s 2015 National Awards for Education Reporting and in the California Teachers Associaion’s 2015 John Swett Awards for Media Excellence. The Public Press is a finalist for the teachers association’s award for Continuous Coverage of Schools/Education Issues for the “Choice is Resegregating Public Schools” investigative report. Entries are judged by a volunteer panel of media professionals from around California. The association will announce award winners later this spring. The same report was nominated for the education writers’ national awards.
The San Francisco Public Press has received a $3,000 grant from the Strong Foundation for Environmental Values for an investigative reporting project exposing the various ways that climate change will negatively affect residents of new and planned real estate projects throughout the Bay Area — and how local governments and urban planners can best respond to those challenges. This project extends the reporting initiated in our sea level rise investigation, which showed how Bay Area builders plan to invest more than $21 billion in offices and homes in flood-prone areas, where waters could climb 8 feet above today’s high tide by the end of this century.
We’re thrilled to announce that the San Francisco Public Press is receiving a $35,000 INNovation Fund grant to expand outreach programs through community organizing, collaboration with local groups and hosting regular public events to expand audience engagement. The INNovation Fund, administered by the Institute for Nonprofit News, was established in 2014 with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation “to spur business innovation and experimentation focused on audience engagement and long-term sustainability in nonprofit newsrooms.” The Democracy Fund contributed $200,000 to the fund, which allowed nearly twice as many organizations to receive grants in the current round. We are grateful to INN, the Knight Foundation and the Democracy Fund for their support.
