Welcome to Central Current
Central Current is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newspaper for people building a life in Central New York. We provide access, accountability, and transparency by spotlighting what matters. From council meetings to concerts, Central Current gives you a front row seat to the stories that affect your everyday life.
We provide fact-based news and analysis about the challenges, solutions and opportunities we all share living in Central New York. Our news and multimedia storytelling is exclusively published and distributed online through our website, newsletters and social media.
We strive to be an inclusive and responsive resource for news and information. Our goal is to foster civic engagement and democratic governance, and to help build a more prosperous and healthy community.
Journalism should be smart, thorough, and available to all – that’s why we will never have a paywall. We bring you news that’s nourishing, leaving you recharged and empowered with solutions for change. Syracuse is evolving and your stories are shaping it. Join us.
Our History
Central Current was born out of the urgent need for open access to high quality, systems-focused journalism. We are committed to documenting the impact of regional policies and helping Central New Yorkers understand how their local institutions operate with the goal of creating more engaged and informed residents. Our articles are never behind a paywall.
Like many regions, Central New York saw many journalists lose their jobs as the business model for newspapers changed dramatically in the early 2010s. Advertising revenue dried up, and hundreds of local newspaper employees were forced to find other work – doing untold damage to our media landscape. For every reporter no longer in the field, countless stories are no longer told and residents consequently know less and less about the transformations happening in their own backyards.
Central Current is working to rebuild what was lost by deploying a growing team of trained journalists into our community to provide deeper coverage of under-reported issues. With the announcement of the $100 billion Micron microchip manufacturing project, the I-81 viaduct removal, and the related housing crisis – this work has taken on a new level of urgency.
Since publishing our first story in 2022, Central Current has produced a growing body of investigations centering on housing, policing, and local government. We have also invested in arts and culture coverage, helping to shine a light on the galleries, concerts, and nightlife that help make Central New York an enriching place to live.
Our reporting has led to strong relationships with local, state, and national media partners, including an investigation co-published with USA Today, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, and Syracuse University revealing the prevalence of police car crashes and gaps in the system to protect neighbors injured in the crashes.
To date, Central Current has been awarded 16 Syracuse Press Club awards.
Our Mission
Central Current’s mission is to provide education of the kind that can only be delivered through the application of sound journalistic principles to fact-based news, opinion, and analysis of the issues, events, and life in Central New York and to contribute to an educated and well-informed electorate, and thereby, to strengthen civic engagement and democratic governance.
Central Current is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization. EIN: 86-1656116