The Monroe County Radio Project received funding from a 2006 New Voices grant from J-lab, the Institute for Interactive Journalism.  The New Voices grant program is designed to help fund the start-up and launch of new community journalism projects. All U.S. non-profit groups and education organizations are eligible to apply, but the New Voices website says that successful projects should benefit a defined geographic or special interest community and foster an open exchange of journalistically sound ideas, information, news and opinion in that community. Projects to receive the New Voices Grant are selected based on the level of communication innovation, plans for effectively serving a community with fact based news and information, usefulness as a prototype for others, and specific plans for funding the project after the New Voices involvement in it has ended.  For more information, visit the New Voices homepage at: http://www.j-newvoices.org/.