City Bureau
Sonam Vashi is the director of the Documenters Network and program at City Bureau. The Documenters Network includes 20+ local organizations that equip and pay community members to attend local government meetings, distill what matters, and bring actionable information back to their neighbors. Our goal is to support communities to understand and shape the decisions that impact their lives and neighborhoods. Together, the network has trained more than 6,000 residents, documented more than 14,000 local meetings, and paid out more than $1.5 million directly to communities across the country. The program was founded and is supported nationally by City Bureau, a civic media lab designing and helping local adoption of people-powered journalism practices. Previously, Sonam cofounded Canopy Atlanta, a local community journalism nonprofit; was a 2022 John S. Knight Community Impact Fellow; and was an award-winning freelance investigative reporter for outlets including ProPublica, Atlanta magazine, CNN, and more. She lives in beautiful Atlanta, Georgia, where she was raised, with her two cats.
