Day in and day out, Growing Community Media and its four community news titles showed up for our readers, telling the stories that mattered most and helping our villages stay informed and connected. Our small but mighty newsroom produced more than 2,000 original articles over the course of this busy year, covering everything from No Kings protests and ICE activity to local elections, our schools and all the stories in between.
We also printed more than 400,000 newspapers across our four flags, representing 11 million recyclable pages, and delivered them directly to you or to a business nearby. Laid end to end, those pages would stretch over 1,000 miles, enough to cover every single street in the communities we serve. That feels fitting. Every page is hand designed by our staff, with every story placement and advertisement thoughtfully considered.
But this work is not just about volume. It is about quality.
This year, our publications earned dozens of honors from the Illinois Press Association. Our Forest Park Review was awarded the Kramer Trophy for best small newspaper in Illinois, one of the highest recognitions in our field. These awards reflect the care, rigor, and integrity our team brings to its work every day.
Our impact extends beyond the page. Our dedicated sales team helped spotlight nearly 700 local businesses this year, connecting readers with the people and services that make our neighborhoods thrive. And just this week our combined newsletter subscriptions surpassed 20,000 readers, representing a 40 percent increase over last year.
We do this work because we believe in it. We live in these communities. We shop at these businesses. Our kids attend these schools. Local news is not a particularly lucrative business these days, and the challenges facing nonprofit publishers are at all time highs. Still, we show up. For you. For our neighbors. For our communities.
As we head toward the end of the year, we are asking you, our reader, to show up for us.
If you have never given before, now is the time. If you supported us in the past but have not in a while, we need you now. And if you have already contributed, thank you. Your generosity matters more than ever.
These community institutions are not promised to last forever. They survive only when the people who value them step forward to sustain them. To make this moment even more meaningful, a generous gift from our Board of Directors will match all donations now through the end of the year, up to $10,000 dollars. The impact of your gift will be doubled and further help sustain this work in the year ahead.
From all of us here at GCM, happy holidays. Thank you for reading, for caring about your community, and for supporting local news. If you would like to see this work continue, we hope you will consider making a contribution today.
With gratitude,
Max Reinsdorf
Interim Executive Director
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