ABSTRACT
The partnerships can start when one party cold-call another, as Editor Trisha O'Connor did in Myrtle Beach. They also can build from past acquaintances, such as those that led to the creation of the energy software in Madison, WI. When anecdotal evidence hinted at large demographic changes in the Bay Area at the end of the 1990s, the San Francisco Examiner tapped university expertise to chart the changes and get ahead of the Census. An early and valuable find was urban geographer Max Kirkeberg at San Francisco State. Kirkeberg took the journalists to southeastern parts of the city unknown to tourists and known to journalists only by their images. Editor Jack Brimeyer knew that leadership was an issue in Peoria. The surveys helped the paper report a multipart, civic journalism series in 1996 called 'Leadership Challenge' that triggered a town hall meeting for more than 300 people and had a major impact on the city.
