FountainWorks is an independent journalism and media not-for-profit dedicated to telling the untold stories of marginalized and underserved African-American communities in Chicago and its mostly Black suburbs. Unforgotten Bureau (for Social Justice Journalism) and 50 Cent A Word are branches of FountainWorks NFP

FountainWorks has established a board of trustees—comprised of distinguished community members and former journalists. The organization has honed its vision, including seeking to develop innovative ways of creating a sustainable model through reader subscriptions and paid collaborations with small print publications. These partnerships will potentially expand FountainWorks’ capacity while increasing the exposure of journalists who work for FountainWorks and also enhance those print publications. 

Also, FountainWorks has launched a Substack subscriber site for Unforgotten Bureau—in addition to the 50 Cent A Word A Substack. FountainWorks website is its landing website, separate from, but linked to our Substack sites. Fountain and his students’ work, which he led as social justice multimedia journalism projects at Roosevelt University, are examples, in both approach and scope, of the kinds of independent projects FountainWorks will undertake in the future.     

Additionally, through FountainWorks, Fountain will continue to conduct his series of community storytelling workshops in Chicago-area communities, focusing on teaching citizens how to tell their own stories, using print and digital tools with possible publishing collaborations, occasional public exhibits of photo and multimedia projects, and public discussion forums.

The Unforgotten Bureau team is led by John Fountain who wears many hats. Among them: project leader, line editor, graphic design and production manager, video and photo editor and multimedia producer; web designer and social media content manager, and business manager in addition to writing stories and other content. The majority of our staff consists of Roosevelt student-journalists and one or two freelance journalists who have worked pro bono, although the vast majority of the editing and production is done by John Fountain.

We humbly invite you to join and support us in our journey.