Black Iowa News is an independent news platform designed to highlight Black perspectives, showcase the Black community and amplify the voices of Black Iowans. Its platforms include a robust website, a growing email newsletter and the Black Iowa Newspaper. Support local journalism.

Dana James founded Black Iowa News because she was tired of watching news outlets do a poor job of telling Black stories during the coronavirus pandemic and failing to tell us how the pandemic truly affected our communities. Their mission is to highlight Black perspectives, showcase the Black community and amplify Black voices. She has focused on sharing important stories, finding and quoting Black sources and experts and developing ways for Black people to connect on social media, the web, email and the Black newspaper.

Iowa is changing before our eyes. We must unite and fight the erasure of our history, voter suppression and the racial inequities challenging our ability to make progress. Black Iowa News is committed to informing and uplifting our community through our free email newsletter delivered twice weekly to thousands of subscribers and our growing website which beautifully displays our stories. Our focus continues to be the creation of free-to-read, accessible and high-quality journalism that prioritizes Black Iowans.