TRIPS’ mission is to support local journalism and train future journalists in Oregon with an emphasis on news sources in the Willamette Valley. The project’s focus is on long-form, long-term, investigative, community-focused and solutions journalism from hard news to the arts. In particular, TRIPS seeks to support smaller, independent newspapers covering needed community issues and those in underserved areas, particularly rural areas of Lane County, and covering underserved populations. Award-winning work includes Eugene Weekly‘s obituaries for the unhoused series, honoring people who die homeless in the community whose deaths would otherwise go unremarked.