Google News Initiative to sponsor BlueLena Academy for 2025
Bluelena Academy, sponsored by Google News Initiative is a free training and skills development program designed to deliver practical, results-oriented learning, focusing on the areas that matter most to publishers looking to achieve sustainability.
Cary, NC – BlueLena is proud to introduce BlueLena Academy, a year-round learning community for the 250 independent and local publishers in the BlueLena network, made possible through the generous support of the Google News Initiative.
The BlueLena Academy reflects our deep commitment to empowering publishers by providing free access to essential tools, expertise, and strategies to help media organizations flourish in today’s dynamic landscape. At BlueLena, we believe that a thriving media ecosystem begins with strong, sustainable publishers, and the Academy represents a significant step forward in that mission.
The BlueLena Academy builds on our successful 2024 pilot program, a one-year audience and revenue development training program that blended accelerator-style coaching with hands-on execution support in a peer based learning environment that helped raise $1M in reader revenues for local news publishers.
“Thanks to BlueLena and the Academy, we’ve successfully launched our reader revenue strategy, marking the first time we’ve generated direct revenue from our audience,” said Martin Alfaro, associate publisher at Philadelphia Gay News, a participant in the 2024 Academy program.
Bluelena Academy is designed to deliver practical, results-oriented learning, focusing on the areas that matter most to publishers looking to achieve sustainability. From building engaging newsletters and focused marketing funnels to setting up an automation or audience segment, our workshops – led by industry-leading experts – provide publishers with actionable takeaways you can put to work immediately.?
Whether you’re crafting a new welcome series, fine-tuning your engagement strategies, or seeking clarity on critical KPIs, the Academy offers real-world insights that lead to measurable improvements. BlueLena Academy will also feature select learning opportunities hosted by the Google News Initiative team.
“We are enjoying the new tools and learning how to use them to move more readers down the funnel. It’s wonderful to have the BlueLena team as a resource as well as training us for success,” said Liz George, publisher of Montclair Local, a participant in the 2024 Academy program.
Bluelena Academy is more than just a training program – it’s a vibrant community where publishers learn, collaborate, and share experiences to help each other grow. Together, we tackle challenges, explore new opportunities, and shape the future of independent media. If you’re ready to unlock new growth, strengthen your skills, and get the most out of your BlueLena membership, the Academy is here to help you take the next step.
Spring Curriculum
All sessions will take place on Wednesdays at 2pm ET, lasting for one hour. The program begins Wednesday, February 19th and the first six sessions have been announced, covering the following topics (click to register):
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Program Overview
Thanks to the generous financial support of Google News Initiative, the BlueLena Academy is now a benefit to all BlueLena clients. The Academy is designed to provide hands-on skills development through the establishment of the foundational “blueprints” of audience development, monetization and marketing, including the utilization of technology.
BlueLena Academy provides foundational infrastructure of a sustainable reader revenue program and strengthens your capacity and knowledge to enable long-term success.
The contents of the Academy are derived from our proven best practices for growth, and rooted in establishing a sustainable, scalable funnel – with special focus on audience acquisition, conversion and retention through automated lifecycle management and critical marketing skills and workflows.
In 2024, the following publishers enrolled in and graduated from the inaugural BlueLena Academy, and collectively raised over $1M in reader revenues over the course of the year:
To join the BlueLena Academy community and receive email updates and invitations to training sessions, workshops and ask-me-anything sessions featuring BlueLena and GNI strategists and outside experts, click the button below.
About BlueLena
BlueLena was founded by an experienced team of publishers, journalists and newsmedia marketing executives to create a sustainable future for independent local media. We do so by deploying world class technology, and delivering the expertise and professional services to build and support subscription, membership and donation models for long-term success.
In the short time since our founding in early 2020, we have quickly grown to support leading community-based media brands coast-to-coast across the United States and Canada, including in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Vancouver, Detroit, St Louis, Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Tampa, Orlando, San Antonio, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Charlotte, Raleigh, Omaha, Little Rock, Washington, DC and many other markets.
Our 250+ member publishing consortium represents a diverse mix of non-profit and for profit newsrooms, pure digital and print plus digital publications, as well as established and new media brands. Our clients represent membership with?Local Media Association?(LMA),?LION Publishers?(LION), the?Institute for Nonprofit News?(INN),?the?Black Press Association?(NNPA),?the?National Association of Hispanic Press?(NAHP) and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia?(AAN).
BlueLena is founder-funded and backed by investment from?Automattic?(owner of Newspack),?Local Media Association?and?Old Town Media, a New York-based firm that has supported the American Journalism Project, The Colorado Sun, Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat, among other successful media-related projects. Let’s get to work.