Capital B is a local-national nonprofit news organization that centers Black voices, audience needs and experiences, and partners with the communities it serves.
Our national team produces in-depth journalism on topics of crucial importance to Black people across the country, such as education, housing, health, the environment, criminal justice, and politics.
Capital B Atlanta is the first in a growing network of local newsrooms anchored by Capital B’s national hub. Our Atlanta newsroom publishes need-to-know information — such as how to find affordable housing, apply for benefits, and vote — civic journalism, and accountability reporting, with an editorial strategy informed by intensive community listening and engagement with Black metro Atlanta residents.
We aim to be an antidote to the misinformation, disinformation, and low-quality, low-context news that clouds our information pipelines. Capital B offers clear, accessible reporting on a local and national level that’s tailored to the needs of our audience and free for all.
Capital B is the news we deserve.
News we need.
How we’re funded
Capital B is constantly working toward building a stable foundation for Black news to grow and flourish, but we will never accept money at the expense of our editorial independence.
As a nonprofit news organization, our funding comes from a mix of philanthropic revenue — foundation grants, major individual gifts, corporate donations, and individual contributions through our membership program — and corporate underwriting of our journalism on our websites as well as off-platform.
Leadership Team
Lauren Williams is chief executive officer and co-founder of Capital B. Before starting Capital B, she was senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Vox, where oversaw all editorial and business operations. She also held the positions of executive editor and managing editor there. Prior to Vox, she was an editor at Mother Jones and The Root. Her first journalism job was in local news at the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia.
Akoto Ofori-Atta is co-founder and chief audience officer of Capital B. She was previously managing editor at The Trace, where she was responsible for the award-winning newsroom’s partnerships, special projects, and editorial operations. She previously held positions as senior editor at Essence magazine and associate editor at The Root, and is a 2015 John S. Knight journalism fellow.
Gillian White is senior vice president of programming and revenue at Capital B. Gillian was formerly a managing editor at The Atlantic where she oversaw podcasts, editorial live events, special projects, and interactive storytelling. She has also worked as an editor and columnist at Kiplinger. She’s a member of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s board of directors.
Simone Sebastian is editorial director at Capital B. She comes to Capital B from The Washington Post, where she was the America editor and co-led the award-winning “George Floyd’s America” project, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-finalist coverage of the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso,Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Sebastian was previously an editor for the Houston Chronicle, and her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Detroit Free Press.
Editorial Independence Policy
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:
Capital B retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.
We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.
Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.
Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.
Our Board
Sarabeth Berman, CEO, American Journalism Project
Marsha Cooke, vice president and executive producer, ESPN Films
Maurisse Johnson, CFO, Solutions Journalism Network
Akoto Ofori-Atta, chief audience officer and co-founder, Capital B
Matt Thompson, Editor, Headway at the New York Times
Lauren Williams, CEO and co-founder, Capital B