COMMUNITY VOICES AND COMMENTARY STRENGTHEN N.C.

Beacon Media serves local news and community outlets that reach communities across North Carolina. We provide community media with high-quality commentary on issues that matter—to help you keep serving your communities in a rapidly-changing media economy.

Building Relationships

We build relationships with existing and emerging community leaders across the state who are working on the issues that will make North Carolina thrive.

Produce Commentary

We help emerging leaders produce commentary about their communities: what issues they’re facing, what lessons they’ve learned, and what they want the rest of North Carolina to know about them.

Syndicate & Distribute

We distribute their work for free to print and digital publications, nonprofit institutions, community thought leaders and through community radio in English and Spanish.

Who we are

North Carolina has the second largest rural population outside of Texas. We have people who have lived here for generations, and millions of people who have moved into our state in the past few years. We syndicate thought leaders and advocates who understand the complexity of our state and who care deeply about policies that will make North Carolina a better place to live for all North Carolinians.

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Beacon voices

At Beacon Media, our stories are shaped by a dynamic group of contributors whose roots run deep in North Carolina. From lifelong residents to recent arrivals, our Beacon Voices bring unique perspectives that truly reflect the diversity of our state. They delve into overlooked stories with dedication, aiming to spark meaningful conversations and affect real change. These contributors are more than just journalists; they are engaged citizens and passionate advocates for their communities.

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Our Stories

Jul 2, 2025 / By

Kimberly Jones: Public education is a sacred obligation

You cannot ask schools to solve every societal ill while refusing to fund the systems that make solutions possible. Public education cannot be reimagined if it is underfunded, undermined, and politicized. At the very least, you should place a moratorium on the expansion of private school vouchers, which siphon vital resources away from the public schools that serve the vast majority of our children. I have said it before and will say it again: public dollars belong in public schools. We cannot keep pretending to champion success for all students while funding systems that are not held to the same standards of transparency, access, or accountability.

READ MORE

Jul 2, 2025 / By

Rev. Della Owens: Lawmakers should kill the ‘Big Deadly Bill’

Medicaid is a lifeline for low-income people all over America and is the United States’ largest insurer. Additionally, the bill would gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides resources to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget and ensure access to nutritious food. Thousands of those receiving food assistance, 13% of North Carolinians, would lose that assistance under the bill.

READ MORE

Jun 30, 2025 / By

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: The real reason we’re being told to hate Pride

Pride has been celebrated in the United States and North Carolina for decades now, but it’s meeting new resistance. Nationally, anti-LGBTQ demonstrations and violence are rising. New FBI data shows that 2,402 hate crimes related to sexual orientation were reported in 2023 in the U.S., which the Human Rights Campaign called “disturbing, record-breaking” numbers.  

READ MORE

Jun 12, 2025 / By

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: Congress is pushing to drastically cut food aid. Why? 

There is no way that the charitable food bank network — as big and robust as it is — can make up for these devastating cuts. SNAP is, by far, the most efficient and cost-effective way to make sure that people in our communities have enough to eat. What's more, grocers in poor and working-class neighborhoods like mine, as well as rural communities, rely on SNAP dollars to stay open.

READ MORE

Our Stories

Jul 2, 2025 / By

Kimberly Jones: Public education is a sacred obligation

You cannot ask schools to solve every societal ill while refusing to fund the systems that make solutions possible. Public education cannot be reimagined if it is underfunded, undermined, and politicized. At the very least, you should place a moratorium on the expansion of private school vouchers, which siphon vital resources away from the public schools that serve the vast majority of our children. I have said it before and will say it again: public dollars belong in public schools. We cannot keep pretending to champion success for all students while funding systems that are not held to the same standards of transparency, access, or accountability.

READ MORE

Jul 2, 2025 / By

Rev. Della Owens: Lawmakers should kill the ‘Big Deadly Bill’

Medicaid is a lifeline for low-income people all over America and is the United States’ largest insurer. Additionally, the bill would gut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides resources to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget and ensure access to nutritious food. Thousands of those receiving food assistance, 13% of North Carolinians, would lose that assistance under the bill.

READ MORE

Jun 30, 2025 / By

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: The real reason we’re being told to hate Pride

Pride has been celebrated in the United States and North Carolina for decades now, but it’s meeting new resistance. Nationally, anti-LGBTQ demonstrations and violence are rising. New FBI data shows that 2,402 hate crimes related to sexual orientation were reported in 2023 in the U.S., which the Human Rights Campaign called “disturbing, record-breaking” numbers.  

READ MORE

Jun 12, 2025 / By

Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: Congress is pushing to drastically cut food aid. Why? 

There is no way that the charitable food bank network — as big and robust as it is — can make up for these devastating cuts. SNAP is, by far, the most efficient and cost-effective way to make sure that people in our communities have enough to eat. What's more, grocers in poor and working-class neighborhoods like mine, as well as rural communities, rely on SNAP dollars to stay open.

READ MORE