; and (2) declines in circulation due to the closures of businesses in their communities; Whereas the number of Black journalists working at daily newspapers dropped by 40 percent between 1997 and 2014, more than for any other demographic group, and the exodus of journalists from local news outlets exacerbated amid the economic fallout from the COVID–19 pandemic has been disproportionately borne by Black constituencies; Whereas the number of print media sources published by and for Native American readers has shrunk dramatically in recent years, from 700 media outlets in 1998 to only 200 in 2018; Whereas Tribally owned news outlets are often dependent on Tribal governments for funding, but most of those outlets lack the policy structure necessary to fully protect journalistic independence; Whereas a 2018 survey by the Native American Journalists Association found that 83 percent of respondents believed that Native press coverage of Tribal government affairs was sometimes, frequently, or always censored; Whereas there are more than 620 Latino news media outlets in the United States, including more than 275 independently owned print publications, and collectively these news media outlets primarily rely on a declining advertising revenue base; Whereas the lack of local news impacts communities that speak languages other than English, which are often excluded from national media coverage; Whereas investments in local journalism have mainly focused on larger media markets, contributing to inequities and a journalistic divide between affluent and low-income communities; Whereas student journalists, at both the college and high school level, have stepped in to play an important role reporting on their local communities despite the lack of educational resources and support; Whereas the Pew Research Center reports that nearly 1 in 10 statehouse reporters are student journalists; Whereas more than 360 local newsrooms have closed from the onset of the COVID–19 pandemic in early 2020 to the present day