Shoresides is a community-based organization. We tell stories about and listen to the voices of the people of coastal North Carolina. We’re a trusted and responsive source of information for our region.

Shoresides was launched by journalists in coastal North Carolina as a project of the nonprofit Narrative Arts.  The devastation of Hurricane Florence exposed a need for local journalism in rural coastal North Carolina.  Shoresides acts as the region’s nonprofit civic journalism lab and produces stories, trains civic journalists, and brings communities together to build a healthy media ecology for the region.

Banner photo from the first Shoresides newsletter sent a week after Hurricane Florence hit the coastal region.

OUR MODEL

Shoresides is published by the nonprofit Narrative Arts.  We rely on individual donations, sponsorships, and grants to support our work in the coastal North Carolina region.

1. Producing original content covering the region’s culture, politics, and pressing issues.
2. Bringing people together through our Free Movement Conference focused on civic journalism in the coastal region
3. Training civic journalists through our Coastal Youth Media Project and our Media Resilience Fellowship program

4. Collaborating with local, regional, and national partners to increase our impact

WHO WE ARE

Rend Smith is the editor/news director and cofounder of Shoresides. Rend is a communicator and content producer who has focused on using technology to amplify diverse voices across communities. Through initiatives like podcasts highlighting underrepresented stories, online campaigns addressing social justice issues, and projects giving a platform to incarcerated writers, Rend focuses on journalism that has an impact. His investigative journalism confronting issues like police violence and surveillance has been supported by grants from organizations like Type Investigations, The Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting, Flashlight and other journalism funders. With bylines in publications like The New York Times, Washington City Paper, and Colorlines, Rend brings marginalized narratives to the forefront through deeply reported storytelling. 

Franchon Francees is the director of Coastal Youth Media project, a program that trains regional youth in media production.  She is Shoresides youth media producer.     

Kevin Lee-Y Green is a dancer, choreographer, and theater director who was born and raised in Bolivia, North Carolina.  He is Shoresides Arts and Culture director. 

Sheresa Elliot  is a licensed clinical social worker, mental health advocate and confidence coach. Elliot hosts the long-form solutions journalism podcast ‘Shoresides’, created by and for Carteret County, North Carolina. 

Nick Szuberla is the development director of Shoresides and a veteran southern media artist, organizer, and narrative strategist.  He cut his teeth as a media producer and organizer working for civil rights at the Highlander Research and Education Center. Later, he worked at the rural media arts center Appalshop from 1998-2011 before launching Narrative Arts.

You can mail inquiries, donations (make to Narrative Arts with Shoresides in subject line), or pitches to Shoresides, PO Box 448, Wilmington, NC 28402, or email us at info@shoresides.org.  Learn more about Narrative Arts.

Our news beat is the coastal plain of North Carolina.