Crain's Detroit Business has deepened its partnership with Bridge Magazine to give the state's leading business media company exclusive first-syndication rights to Bridge's award-winning public policy coverage.

Bridge Magazine, the 2016 Michigan Press Association Newspaper of the Year, is a nonprofit provider of in-depth news and information about the state economy, education system, public policy and urban affairs.

"As Crain's doubles down on in-depth reporting, vibrant storytelling and watchdog journalism, we're excited to make this investment in nonprofit media," said Crain's Editor/Associate Publisher Ron Fournier. "Bridge reporters dig deep and hard to uncover uncomfortable truths, which makes them a perfect partner for our team."

Effective Jan. 1, Crain's will publish Bridge content across its platforms, including its Monday print news magazine — each week, at the same time Bridge publishes at bridgemi.com.

Crain's has purchased from Bridge the exclusive rights to republish all Bridge content for several days. After that period of Crain's exclusivity, other Michigan newspapers may also purchase Bridge content for nonexclusive syndication through a new partnership between Bridge and the Michigan Press Association.

Bridge Magazine is Michigan's leading example of a nationwide trend of growing nonprofit news organizations launched in recent years to bolster public service journalism. Many news organizations statewide and nationally have suffered significant cuts in news reporting staffs as the newspaper economy has declined due to the rise of online advertising and social media.

"Journalism is a tough profession these days, but credible, in-depth reporting is essential to democracy," said John Bebow, president and CEO of the nonprofit Center for Michigan, which publishes Bridge. "It will take creative and collaborative approaches to continually build new revenue streams to grow and sustain nonprofit journalism. Bridge is working every day with our partners to do just that."

Bridge and the Center for Michigan are financially supported by a range of philanthropy, including foundations, corporations, and hundreds of individual readers.

The Bridge team includes six veteran reporters working full time under the leadership of Pulitzer Prize-winning editor David Zeman. Under an existing agreement with Crain's, Lansing-based public policy reporter Lindsay VanHulle writes for both publications.