If you read the news about black men in the U.S., chances are it's mostly about the challenges they face. This week marks the expansion of BMe -- a project where people can share stories about how black men are strengthening communities in three U.S. cities.

BMe is sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, in partnership with the Open Society Foundations' Campaign for Black Male Achievement. Trabian Shorters, Knight's VP for Communities, wrote:

"Last year, when we piloted BMe in Detroit and Philadelphia more than 2,000 black men and their champions posted video testimonials of the big and small things they do to make their communities stronger. We then gave each of them a shot at grant funding, if they wanted it. We ended up giving out over $400,000 in grants to 20 of them.

"This year, as we start another program in Baltimore, we have created a new website to post video testimonials and to allow you to connect to these good men from all walks of life. We will provide new resources and networking opportunities, and in 2013 a new funding opportunity."

People who want to share their stories (or nominate others) can upload a 1-4 minute video with the story to YouTube. These are aggregated in the site, and presented with biographical information. Here's one featured example: Ari Merretazon, a decorated Vietnam veteran who runs Pointman Soldiers Heart Ministry, a nonprofit organization serving vulnerable U.S. veterans in Philadelphia and other northeastern U.S. cities.

This kind of crowdsourced community-building and community celebration project borrows from two other projects: The Face of Black Men (which crowdsourced positive stories and images of black men via Tumblr and Pinterest) and the It Gets Better Project, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered youth via crowdsourced YouTube videos.

While those projects were national and international, BMe demonstrates how to employ this strategy on a metro or local level. The social media tools are free and popular; it just takes the savvy to focus them to highlight what people are doing to improve communities.

The News for Digital Innovators blog is made possible by a grant to USC Annenberg from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.