b'11FALL 2019LIFTINGON DEC. 31, 2015,The Daily News rolled off the presses for the final time, and its home city, McKeesport, along with other Mon Valley communities COMMUNITYthat had been served by the newspaper for 131 years, became a news desert, deprived even of basic obituaries of local residents. A digital news resource and the Mon Valley Independent helped VOICES to fill a small part of the void, and now, thanks to a collaboration funded by The Pittsburgh Foundation, more local Mon Valley stories can be told. Point Park Universitys Center for Media Innovation and YouthCAST (Community and Schools Together) Leadership Network, led by McKeesport native Keno Fitzpatrick, are equipping residents and student journalists with real-world reporting skills. That work includes guidance from professional journalist mentors. Earlier this year, the Point Park Center was awarded a two-year, $180,000 grant from the Foundation, a portion of which is to develop the community newsroom in McKeesport. The project is based in the former Daily News building under the name Tube City Center. Led by Pulitzer Prizewinning photographer Martha Rial, Tube City serves Skylar Palmer, left, shows his olderas a space for journalism workshops, photography safaris and a new brother, Zekeil, photographs takenwriters group.during a McKeesport CommunityThe goal is for the community newsroom to provide a place Newsroomsponsored photo safariwhere community members learn how to share their own stories, in conjunction with the Riverfrontsays Center for Media Innovation Director Andrew Conte. We want Concert Series in McKeesport.IMAGE BY MARTHA RIAL, 2019. to put journalism back in the hands of citizens.'