Cleveland Documenter Kellie Morris made me cry (tears of joy, of course). Yesterday ABC News aired a story about Cleveland Documenters and Signal Cleveland. It featured Kellie, who has been a Cleveland Documenter since 2021, documenting a Cleveland City Council meeting. If you missed it, take a few minutes to watch.
Kellie, along with hundreds of other Cleveland Documenters, is trained and paid to take notes at public meetings. I got teary watching the piece because it showed how the simple act of notetaking ripples out to become something much greater.
It’s democracy in action as people get proximate to local government and learn more about it. It’s civic engagement. (Watch Kellie walk from person to person in council chambers inviting them to learn more about our work.) It’s power building as people come together at our monthly gatherings to discuss serious issues in local government and brainstorm solutions.
And it’s part of a growing movement across the region, the state and the country with hundreds of residents trained so far and nonprofit newsrooms rethinking how to produce news and information with community at the center.
What Cleveland Documenters do
Without Documenters, many public meetings wouldn’t have any members of the public there. Last year alone, Cleveland Documenters attended more than 250 meetings. And more than 100,000 people read their work to stay informed about what’s happening in local government and how that impacts us.
Their notes and questions fuel the work of Signal Cleveland’s reporters, who turn to the notes for story ideas, to answer questions Documenters are left wondering, and to produce daily news and information.
We’re doing journalism not just for journalism’s sake but because we believe, with a community of curious Clevelanders at the center of this work, that we can be part of building a more resilient and engaged city that works better for everyone.
Join Documenters
If you’re interested in joining us, check out this page for more information about how you can be part of Signal Cleveland and become a Cleveland Documenter.