Event
Information Session: U.S. Civil Society Microgrants 2026
Event Date:
May 27, 2026 | 1:00 PM TO 2:00 PM EDT
The Pulitzer Center is accepting applications for 2026 U.S. Civil Society Microgrants through Monday, June 8, 2026.
The microgrants aim to support civil society groups in the United States to use Pulitzer Center-supported reporting as part of projects that contribute to more informed and empowered communities. For the 2026 grant cycle, we are seeking grant proposals for civic engagement projects to be completed by early December and focusing on one of the following issues:
- Climate and the environment, with a focus on U.S fisheries and fishing communities, or climate and labor
- Information and artificial intelligence
- Global health, with a focus on mental well-being or connections to the Global South
The objective of the civil society microgrants is to use Pulitzer Center-supported journalism as inspiration for projects that amplify the voices of affected communities, foster public debate, and drive meaningful audience engagement, leading to impactful conversations in communities in the U.S. and beyond.
Information session
Please join us on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, at 1:00pm EDT for an information session to learn more about this new microgrant opportunity from the Pulitzer Center’s Engagement team. The session will include an overview of the goals and requirements for the microgrants, as well as a Q&A with attendees.
The session will be led by Fareed Mostoufi, the Center's associate director of K-12 Education, and Outreach Coordinator Josaphat Barcenas-Argueta, Mostoufi and Barcenas-Argueta will be overseeing the grant selection and management process.
Fareed Mostoufi is the Pulitzer Center's associate director of K-12 Education, where he focuses on designing resources and programs that connect students, teachers, and other U.S. audiences to underreported news stories and the journalists who cover them. He also co-manages the StoryReach U.S. Fellowship program.
Mostoufi joined the Pulitzer Center in 2016 after working for nearly four years before that as a theater artist, educator, and program manager in the Community Engagement department at Arena Stage theater in Washington D.C. While at Arena, Mostoufi devised and directed original, autobiographical plays with communities in Washington, D.C.; Peru; India; and Croatia that explored violence, health, and identity.
Before that, Mostoufi taught English as a Second Language and Spanish in D.C. Public Schools and was a 2009 Fulbright Scholar who taught literature and playwriting to English teachers in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina. He is passionate about social justice and is a firm believer in the power of storytelling to cultivate empathy.
Josaphat Barcenas-Argueta is the outreach coordinator at the Pulitzer Center. Previously, he worked in nonprofit program coordination and international climate research initiatives focused on community engagement and environmental justice.
Barcenas-Argueta holds graduate degrees in international development, environmental science and policy, and he has experience working across multicultural and international contexts.
His professional interests include climate justice, environmental communication, equitable community engagement, and the role of storytelling in advancing public understanding of global challenges
Register here to join us at the information session on May 27.
