Five years of nonprofit local news

Five years ago this September, our communities made a bet that strong, independent local reporting was worth preserving – and that a nonprofit model could help preserve it.

It was a new model for sustaining newspapers that had served this region for generations – The Lakeville Journal since 1897 and The Millerton News since 1932.

Five years of expanded, independent, local reporting supported by readers, advertisers, and donors is worth noting – and celebrating, especially as so many local news outlets are disappearing.

Our reporters are covering the important stories that affect you: the changing landscape of local health care; the spread and containment of hydrilla in Twin Lakes; the growing cost of emergency medical services; debates over housing, schools and major development projects; and, through our recent “Pockets of Poverty” series, the financial hardship that too often goes unseen in our communities.

We also record the shared life of our communities – anniversaries and festivals, school milestones, performances, traditions, achievements and the people who make our towns such interesting places to live.

People turn to The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News not only to understand the issues affecting their communities, but to feel connected to them.

Covering the difficult questions matters; so does helping people see themselves, their neighbors and the life of their towns reflected in these pages.

Your support has also helped us invest beyond the printed newspaper. We have expanded our journalism education efforts, both with our paid summer internships, and with the new student-produced newspaper at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. Expansion plans are underway.

Your support has also strengthened the tools and systems behind our reporting, with upgrades to our websites and the creation of an audience development position focused on helping more people find, use and engage with our coverage – in print, online, through newsletters and across other digital platforms.

And, with your continuing support, we are continuing to build.

In the months ahead, readers will see redesigned newspapers, shaped in part by reader feedback, and a deeper focus on answering the questions our communities are asking – not simply reporting what happened, but helping readers understand what it means, why it matters and what comes next. We’ll also be creating more opportunities for readers to tell us what they want to know and where our coverage can be most useful.

This work has been sustained by donors and foundations, advertisers and subscribers, readers and community partners – all helping make strong local news possible.

Your support has been an important part of that. Because of you, we are still here, still reporting, still improving and still looking ahead.

Thank you for believing in this work and for helping make it possible.