April 21, 2026

A 2025 study grappled with how to get information about the Beatties Ford Road corridor to the people who live or own businesses there.

The study offered eight recommendations:

• News sources should be be more engaged in the corridor.
• The collectors of such news should live in the community, i.e., be trusted.
• Subjects of news should be about the corridor, and go beyond “negative” news.
• Information should be visible at places in the corridor where people already congregate.
• The corridor needs more sources of information.
• Information should be funneled through institutions in the corridor that are already trusted
• Internet access on the corridor should be more affordable.
• Providers of information should work together more.

On Tuesday, four of the people engaged in the corridor story offered perspectives on the recommendations. The study was prepared for the Knight Foundation. which has focused its philanthropy on the corridor, and was conducted by the UNCC Urban Institute. The study says that of the thousands of people in the corridor, 150 completed a survey and a dozen were interviewed.

A report on today’s presentation and Q&A was published in Sistah Magazine here. The Urban Institute’s website article is here.The UNCC link to the report in a PDF is here. A copy of the study is on the Forum site here.

– Steve Johnston