Simon is a journalist, technologist, and organizer working in media and policy to strengthen democracy.
Hi!
I’m Simon.
I work on making public institutions more accountable to the public.
Right now, I’m focused on building a community-run public service news organization in Essex County, New Jersey through the Bloomfield Info Project.
It’s one of the initiatives of the Community Info Coop, the nonprofit organization I founded to explore new models of public funding and participation in journalism, media, and technology.
In 2021, I was awarded a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University to support this work.
More about me below. Contact me for training or speaking gigs or collaboration opportunities.
Current work
I’m working on building a future where people are informed, engaged, and liberated from systemic oppression.
What I do is called a lot of things – “movement journalism,” “engaged journalism,” “service journalism.” But I’m also more of a builder than a writer. So my latest focus is on creating infrastructure that enables community-run news organizations to flourish.
Nationally, that’s with the Community Info Coop, where I’ve led the development of new policy approaches to the local news crisis in Colorado and New Jersey and work towards structural reform in journalism, media, technology, and philanthropy.
Locally, I run the Bloomfield Info Project in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Launched in response to the pandemic, the Bloomfield Info Project has been recognized for news product innovation and service journalism and is an inaugural grantee of N.J. Civic Information Consortium.
What they’re tweeting
Past work and collaborations
Featured writing
More about me
I wanted to be a foreign correspondent. That’s me on top of a 12th-century castle in Jordan built to defend against Crusaders. I was there studying Arabic and Peace and Conflict.
One year after that, I attempted a summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. That was right was after studying in Morocco and before traveling by cargo truck around Kenya, camping, and studying ecology and conservation. I had been an EMT and outdoor trip facilitator in preparation for an adventurous journalism career.
But like many emerging journalists in the 2010s, it was hard to find good work – so I forged my own path.
I've worked on a Senate campaign, been an editor, launched a social justice journalism lab, oversaw U.S. growth for an international technology company, and lead a community engagement startup.
In 2016, I received an M.A. in Engaged Journalism from Newark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and was named a top digital media innovator in 2017. In 2018, I was awarded a Reynolds Journalism Fellowship to launch the nonprofit that I lead today.
Now I live in Bloomfield, New Jersey with my high school prom date-turned-partner of 13 years and our two cats. I like to exercise, grow my own vegetables, get outdoors, and spend time with good friends.