Grant money for local journalism: Deadline Feb. 12

There's a lot of talk about philanthropic funding for news in the brave new world of journalism that we're entering in this bleak economy.

Many of the proposals are for something grandiose. Some may be a simple as Seattle's Crosscut website's announcement that it would explore evolution into a nonprofit. But what if you -- all on your own -- want to find grant funding for a niche? Is there any money out there?

The answer may be yes. Check this out:

The institute for Interactive Journalism invites you to apply for funding to launch a participatory news venture in your community. J-Lab will select eight projects in 2009. Each project may receive up to $25,000.

Click here for more details. Proposals are due Feb. 12, 2009.