The Bulletin, Central Oregon’s daily newspaper, has been selected to be part of the Facebook Journalism Project’s Accelerator program aimed at growing its digital subscriber base, it was announced Tuesday.

The newspaper is one of 30 news organizations joining the Accelerator programs for reader revenue in North America. More than half (55%) are owned or led by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and/or other communities of color, and 75% focus on local news, according to a news release from the Facebook Journalism Project.

These organizations will participate in a premier business training program for news publishers, which is built on four pillars: virtual workshops where participants listen to experts and participate in hands-on exercises; weekly calls with a dedicated, world-class expert coach; grant funding to execute projects using lessons learned; and a community of shared practice in which people work together to support each other’s progress. This is the third year of this training program.

“Newspapers are constantly evolving to remain successful in today’s growing digital marketplace,” said Bulletin Publisher Heidi Wright, who is also chief operating officer for EO Media Group, the Oregon-based parent company of the paper. “This program will put The Bulletin at the forefront of cutting-edge tools to keep us viable.

“The goal is to produce enough reader revenue from digital subscriptions to fund our news-gathering operations, so we can continue to be a company that produces robust content that is valued by the communities we serve,” Wright said. “This evolution is the opposite of what the hedge funds and large companies are doing these days by slashing their newsrooms to the bone just to stay afloat.”

The 12-week program, from April through mid-July, is followed by a six-month period to execute specific grant-funded initiatives. Grants will be distributed by the nonprofit Local Media Association.

“At least once a week, I hear from someone who expresses their appreciation for one or more of our publications — and they often worry aloud about our survival,” said Kathryn Brown, EO Media Group vice president. “I’m happy to be able to tell them that we are evolving as a company as the newspaper industry evolves.”

Participants were selected from nearly 300 applications by Facebook staff, Local Media Association staff and Accelerator coaches based on a demonstrated impact on their communities, commitment to the program’s requirements and readiness to pursue their biggest business opportunities.