New series of The Exchange Highlights Black Business Leaders Advancing Equity in Their Communities

Content co-created by Deloitte and a consortium of local newspapers feature interviews
with leaders on topics that include advice for professionals, DEI, health equity and small business lending

NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Exchange, a project led by Deloitte and a consortium of Black-owned local publishers, today announced it has published a new series of branded articles highlighting Black business leaders, a new feature tailored for diverse audiences. Launched last year, The Exchange is a pilot project managed by the Local Media Association and Local Media Consortium that aims to advance equity in media by sustaining local publications serving racially and ethnically diverse communities that have been underserved by mainstream media.

The articles are penned by journalists from participating pilot program publishers, including The Atlanta Voice, New York Amsterdam News, Houston Defender Network, AFRO-American Newspapers (Baltimore and D.C.), and The Seattle Medium. They feature interviews with prominent Black business and finance leaders, including LaTanya Flix, senior vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Greater Houston Partnership; Valerie Montgomery Rice, the first woman president at two HBCU medical schools; and Bruce Brooks, CEO of Craft3, a lending institution that benefits underserved entrepreneurs. 

The series includes features on Deloitte leaders making a difference for underserved communities, including Roger G. Arrieux Jr., NY office managing partner, Deloitte LLP, on skills-based hiring & inclusive growth; and Kwasi Mitchell, Chief Purpose and DEI Officer at Deloitte who is leading the organization's commitment to build a more equitable society and address disparities in business.

Using Knotch, a content intelligence platform that surveys readers, the audience responses to the content series are overwhelmingly positive. Seventy-two percent of the respondents expressed a positive sentiment with the most popular reason being, "The content was inspirational." Through content-sharing technology used for The Exchange, the views of content in the leadership collection saw a 62% increase over previous content series.

The Exchange is meant to support local, diverse-owned publishers financially, bring specialized business content to their audiences, and to pioneer a new model of collaboration among the participants, ultimately helping build greater equity in the media landscape. Articles in this series include Deloitte's research-based insight to address a range of topics such as the importance of community service, advice for young professionals, the need for health equity and training more Black doctors, and the fight for small business lending equity to benefit marginalized entrepreneurs.

The content is now available at theexchangelocal.com. It will also be included on 15 participating publisher websites, offering additional opportunities for advertisers and marketers interested in reaching diverse audiences through syndication. In addition to the five aforementioned publishers whose staffers are writing content for The Exchange, the following Black-owned media companies will distribute content: The Michigan Chronicle, New Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Defender, The Charlotte Post, The Sacramento Observer, The Washington Informer, Dallas Weekly, The St. Louis American, Black Voice News, and Precinct Reporter.

"Diverse voices matter, and we believe it is important to amplify these voices and increase knowledge sharing through a series on successful Black business leaders," said Sonny Messiah Jiles, CEO of The Defender Network. "We commend Deloitte for having the vision to recognize the potential of this project, which helps highlight individuals from underserved communities while supporting local, diverse-owned publishers. This is the first of what we believe will be many campaigns to support local news and generate audience engagement through valuable content about a range of topics and industries."

Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of Deloitte's legal structure.

About Local Media Consortium

Local Media Consortium delivers economic value through strategic partnerships on behalf of over 150 local media companies in top markets across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 5,000 outlets. The LMC delivers over $50M in annual financial benefit to its members by harnessing their combined volume and scale to reduce costs and increase revenue with technology and service providers like Google, Meta, Monster and others. According to ComScore, the aggregated LMC audience footprint spans 200 million monthly unique visitors and reaches 80% of the U.S. online audience. More information is available at http://www.localmediaconsortium.com.

About Local Media Association / Local Media Foundation

Local Media Association brings all media together to share, network, collaborate and more. More than 3,000 newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital pure-plays, and research and development partners engage with LMA as members or constituents of our programs. As a 501(c)(6) trade association, LMA is focused on the business side of local media. Its programs and labs focus on revenue growth and new business models. LMA helps local media companies develop their strategies via cutting-edge programs, conferences, webinars, research and training.

Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, serves as the innovation and transformation affiliate of LMA. Incorporating our four strategic pillars — business transformation, journalism funded by philanthropy, industry collaboration, and sustainability for publishers of color — LMF helps provide local media companies the strategies and resources for meaningful innovation and impactful journalism projects.

Media contacts:

Christina Gillham [email protected]
Kristin Brocoff [email protected] 

SOURCE Local Media Consortium