The New Voice project launched its website today and issued a Request for Proposals. The proposal deadline is March 17. As the website says,

New Voices is a pioneering program to seed innovative community news ventures in the United States. Over the next two years, New Voices will help fund the start-up of 20 micro-local, news projects with $12,000 grants; support them with an educational Web site, and help foster their sustainability through $5,000 second-year, matching grants. New Voices is administered by J-Lab at the University of Maryland and supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Disclosure: I’m on the project’s advisory committee and will help read applications.