South Sacramento is a diverse community that speaks many languages and practices many traditions. Cultural lines and language barriers prevent news and community stories from being told to those outside a small radius.

Access Sacramento, in collaboration with The Sacramento Press, The Sacramento Bee and other regional media organizations have reached the final round in the Knight News Challenge.

Their grant proposal will focus specifically on South Sacramento and its residents. Access Sacramento has applied for a two-year, $316,500 grant to continually achieve their mission of providing a forum for the thoughts, dreams and opinions of community members who are ignored by mainstream media. The grant will allow five sites to be outfitted with the technology needed to achieve their two goals.

"Our first goal is to challenge the current media to educate and teach new citizens," Access Sacramento Executive Director Ron Cooper said. "This will create hyper-local news straight from the community."

Cooper hopes new citizens who aren't covered by traditional new sources to participate as community reporters who are able to cover events in a language other than English. Spanish, Hmong and Tagalog are a few of the main languages spoken by members of the community. Cooper and others believe this language barrier is a main reason for the disconnect.

"There is a lack of personnel engagement in news sources today," Cooper said. "This grant will help us engage the South Sacramento community like never before. Activists, leaders or concerned citizens will all be able to participate."

The second goal of the challenge is to supply the equipment and education necessary for reporting. Computers and Internet access are just the beginning.

"The skills to be a reporter will also be taught," Cooper said. "We need to teach objectivity and not subjectivity. The media currently runs on sensationalism. This will be different, not just story after story of robberies and crime. This community needs a voice to be heard, and they can't wait to get it."

Stories received from the project will be displayed on AsIsOnline.tv. This new website offers the chance for text, pictures and video to be uploaded and shared with the world. News and stories in all languages will be available to users throughout the region.

Over 2,300 applicants from around the world applied for the Knight News Challenge. Cooper estimates that Access Sacramento is one of only 100 finalists, but the winners will not be announced until June. The entire challenge is public: Grant proposals are displayed on the Internet, and all software developed for the grant must be open-sourced to share with the world. The Knight Foundation wishes winning proposals were copied and repeated all over the world. The Knight Foundation wants to inspire communities around the globe with these proposals.

"To celebrate diversity, we need to start engaging those not participating and find out why," Cooper said. "This grant will allow Access Sacramento to speed up its plans for South Sacramento."