Meet Commoner’s Cofounders: A Q&A with Darryl Holliday and Anika Anand
How did you get here? What led you to the work you do today via Commoner?
Darryl Holliday: I went to journalism school at an arts college in Chicago, which helps explain why the first community of practice that I organized was a comics journalism group in 2011—and why it’s hard to explain what I do to my parents. I’ve been lucky to have reported for some of the most storied newsrooms in Chicago, including the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Sun-Times, In These Times and WBEZ, including a staff role at what was then a hyperlocal news startup called DNAinfo, which later became Block Club Chicago. But it was this project from the Invisible Institute that really showed me what local journalism can do—I’m proud to have played even a small part in it.
I cofounded City Bureau in 2015, launched the Documenters Network in 2019, began leading News Futures in 2020 and co-authored the Roadmap for Local News in 2023. I’ve been enjoying the ride for more than 15 years; and, for me, Commoner comes out of that love for the work.
Anika Anand: I’ve always really liked thinking about how to solve problems. And the problems I’m usually drawn to are centered around accessibility of information or the ability to act on information to fill a need. In other words, if you’ve ever tried to use an existing process or tool or service to fix a problem you have, and it’s too complex, time intensive or just doesn’t work—I want to know why, and figure out a way to make it work better for you. I’ve spent most of my career working in or in support of newsrooms that report on a community’s problems. And while I’ve learned a lot and have a deep respect for the work journalists do, I’ve realized the limitations of journalism alone as an approach.
At Commoner, I want to use journalism skills–like good user research and synthesizing complex ideas–alongside frameworks like human-centered design, and strategies like community organizing, to fix broken things or help make them work better.
Why did you decide to build Commoner together?
AA: Back in 2021, when I read Darryl’s post in Columbia Journalism Review on journalism as a public good, I felt like it was an excellent articulation of my experience designing community engagement and product strategies in newsrooms. Since then, I’ve followed the work of Darryl and his City Bureau cofounders, deeply impressed by not just the vision, but the execution of their ideas. Darryl offers a perspective that is rooted in the importance of civic engagement and expands beyond traditional journalism– and I’ve already benefited so much from his thought partnership.
DH: I’ve wanted to build a small for-profit shop like Commoner since I started planning my succession plan for City Bureau. And I’d been wanting to work with Anika for some time before that. I’d have conversations with practitioners, funders and everyone in between, and everyone who knew Anika always had the best things to say. When you find those “get-things-done” folks who have the trust of the field and the track record to back it up—you find ways to get things done together.
Soon after I transitioned out of City Bureau and began to wrap up my parental leave, I knew I wanted to do three things: save all the time I possibly could to welcome my daughter to her first year of life, spend some time thinking about my next steps, and build out a new way of working based on what I’d learned over the last 10 years in the local news ecosystem. On that last point, Anika came to mind first as a business partner to build something new and exciting with.
What’s one throughline between your 2024 projects that most excites you?
DH: I’ve been betting on civic media since 2015 when we launched City Bureau as a “civic journalism lab.” Then again as part of the Roadmap for Local News coauthor team, when we defined civic information as news and information that enables community problem-solving—and the primary goal of civic media. When I travel to other countries or talk to journalism colleagues working in places where there isn’t a coherent, sustained civic environment, I think about how lucky we are in the U.S. to have so many people working to build and maintain our commons. I don’t think civic society is a given—you can build it and you can lose it. I want Commoner’s work to support fulfilling, joyful, informed and action-oriented spaces where people solve problems and build communities together.
The most exciting throughline for me is rebuilding civic life. Whether that’s making local public meetings more accessible, or creating better metrics for measuring the utility of civic information, or stewarding communities of practice or facilitating conversations between leaders of the commons who don’t often collaborate on the higher purpose of their work.
AA: Darryl and I spent 2024 taking on projects that aligned with our personal interests and related to systems change in some way because we agreed we wanted to try and get to the root of problems to make a more lasting impact. Also most projects were directly or indirectly connected to civic life, which I think of as all the ways people can make their communities better places to live. I’m still testing various elevator pitches for Commoner, but one way I’ve been thinking about it lately is that we’re a civic impact consultancy, because we want all our work to have a positive impact on civic life.
What’s a dream project for 2025?
AA: I would love to work with newsmakers–anyone who creates accurate, trustworthy information for communities–to create products or tools that address gaps or failures in government. I love a good explainer, but what I’m talking about goes beyond explaining how to navigate a system. Some examples are Outlier Media’s Detroit Development Tracker, Montana Free Press’s legislative tracker and Epicenter booking vaccine appointments for people. These are all tools and services local governments could provide to help people live better, by taking care of themselves or learning how to improve their communities.
DH: I’d love to work with an innovative local government that is deeply invested in community action and engagement. I’ve always thought of civic media projects as R&D for local government. Some of my favorite social interventions are civic media projects that are incubated in nonprofits—particularly because nonprofits tend to test public service ideas and projects that aren’t best supported by the commercial market.
One governmental agency that’s been a mental model for me is the City of Boston’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, which has been serving as the Mayor's “civic research and design team” since 2010. The office is one of the first of its kind and aims to “enhance civic engagement and improve residents' quality of life through innovative uses of technology and data”—which I’m sure resonates with most civic mediamakers.
Name three people inspiring you to make better work these days, and why.
AA:
Emily Amick: Emily is a former lawyer turned Insta-influencer who provides smart and accessible takes on engaging with civic systems to strengthen democracy. I was inspired by a book she coauthored–Democracy in Retrograde–because of its tone and accessibility. She’s one of many social media influencers that I think newsmakers can learn from.
John Clarke Mills: John is a software engineer who created Watch Duty, the app that became a lifeline for Californians fleeing wildfires in LA County. He recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “The fact that I have to do this with my team is not OK. Part of this is out of spite. I’m angry that I’m here having to do this, and the government hasn’t spent the money to do this themselves.” It’s an excellent (non-traditional media) example of using journalism as a useful tool to address a government failure.
Reshma Saujani: Reshma is a former lawyer and political activist who founded Girls Who Code and MomsFirst, which advocates for system changes for moms, including more affordable childcare, paid family leave and equal pay. One interesting project they’re working to expand is Paidleave.ai, a generative AI chatbot that helps “parents and caregivers access and apply for state paid family leave benefits.” I love this project because it shows how AI can make complex information more accessible and actionable for people’s
DH:
Jen Pahlka is a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center and founder of Code for America. Her “Eating Policy” newsletter—on the role of state capacity and the ability of government to accomplish its policy goals—has become one of my favorite reads on how to practically, creatively and open-mindedly fix and support government at all levels.
Sam Pressler is a community-builder, researcher, and writer. I appreciated his “lies we tell ourselves” piece which found a way to gut-check “call-in” with honesty and humility. Check out Connective Tissue, his newsletter “on the connections, communities and commitments that bind us together.” His recent collaboration with our friends at Democracy Notes was a welcome dive into “civic joy.”
My good friend and collaborator Sarah Alvarez has been inspiring me to make better work for years. She recently announced her upcoming transition from the organization she founded, Outlier Media, to her new position as Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication as the James B. Steele Chair in Journalism Innovation—and it seems the shift has made some room for new writing and a new newsletter digging deep on ideas she’s been working on for the last decade.
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