As 2022 closed out, all of us at Growing Community Media, the nonprofit parent of the Forest Park Review, are enormously grateful to our communities for the support we have received this year.
We well surpassed the original fundraising goal of $150,000 for our end of year Make a Match campaign. That represents hundreds of individuals who have donated anywhere from a few dollars to many thousands. Each of you has fueled our determination to continue building our nonprofit newsroom, which now includes five flags across the Greater West Side — from Garfield Park to Oak Park, from Maywood and Proviso to Forest Park and Riverside.
Thanks also to the thousands who subscribe to our vital print editions and the thousands more who read us digitally. A special thanks always to our hundreds of advertisers who continue to invest in us and in their businesses by connecting with our readers.
We have big plans for 2023, important and contested elections to cover ahead of the April vote. While as a nonprofit we may no longer endorse candidates under IRS regulations, we will overperform in providing all of our readers with extensive coverage of the candidates and the issues in every race. Planning for that coverage — digital and print, and a return to live candidate forums — is already underway.
Also, we are actively hiring for full-time reporting positions. If you, or someone you know, wants to be part of this newsroom, now is the time to reach out.
Finally, always, gratitude for recognizing that strong community journalism is the essential glue that builds neighborhoods. While we are building a new model to fund our work and adapting how we tell stories on many platforms, the core effort of explaining, demanding accountability, and connecting is the same as it has been since we launched our first paper, Wednesday Journal, 42 years back.
