Current.org - For People in Public Media / Published at American University School of Communication

Reinvention Stories, part of pubmedia’s Localore initiative, is the recipient of one of nine grants totaling more than $1 million announced today by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The project, from producers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s Community Media Productions, received $80,000 for its documentary, pubradio series and collaborative website about how Dayton, Ohio, is adjusting to a post-industrial economy.

Also, Chicago doc house Kartemquin received two grants totaling $240,000 for films on the impact of natural disasters on poor communities and an alternative high school in rural North Carolina with a focus on digital technology. Filmmaker Barbara Kopple (Harlan County) got $250,000 for her Betrayal of the American Dream, exploring the country’s widening income gap and its impact on the middle class.

Here is a full list of the winners.