Dear Readers,

We are pleased to share that as of February 25, 2026, the news titles operated by Growing Community Media will become the inaugural Chicago-area news titles to join NEWSWELL, an innovative nonprofit consortium dedicated to sustaining community journalism around the country.

GCM is gifting its news titles to NEWSWELL because we believe this will give GCM’s titles the best opportunity to navigate a challenging local media landscape in which more than a third of all U.S. newspapers have shuttered since 2005. New technologies continue to upend the economic models and reader behaviors that have powered local newsrooms for decades. This changing landscape is requiring traditional newsrooms, like ours, to chart new paths forward.  

Since converting to a nonprofit six years ago, GCM has tightened its belt, improved its digital offerings, invested in staff and raised money from many generous readers and donors like you. Through it all, our guiding principle has been the same: To provide you and other readers in Austin, Brookfield, Forest Park, Oak Park, River Forest and Riverside with the best community journalism possible. But finding a financially sustainable path has been just as challenging for us as it has been for others around the country.

Under the NEWSWELL model, local newsrooms continue to serve their communities with original reporting from locally-based staff under the guidance of local advisory boards. In turn, NEWSWELL provides essential wraparound services — from business support to technology, training and shared infrastructure — and enables each publication to focus on what matters most: high-quality local journalism. 

NEWSWELL is a nonprofit organization affiliated with Arizona State University that supports 10 other nonprofit local news sites like ours around the country and has a staff of Pulitzer Prize winning journalists and seasoned business leaders to guide and support each outlet.  While NEWSWELL’s operations are funded by national foundations, earned revenue, and donors, each community news site is responsible for raising its own revenues with guidance and best practices from the NEWSWELL network. All revenue raised from our local community will continue to support our local newsroom. 

We believe the NEWSWELL model will strengthen our operations, offering a path to long-term sustainability in the digital age, while retaining the same locally-based reporting and community perspective all of us deeply value and rely upon. But we can’t do it without you. Our future success rests not just on this partnership, but on your readership, your advocacy and, yes, your financial support.

NEWSWELL will honor existing subscriptions and looks forward to serving subscribers and members of the local news sites and papers.

If you are not a subscriber or a member, please join today — and tell a neighbor. If you own a local business, please consider an ad on the news sites and platforms to reach your customers. And if you believe, as we do, that healthy communities and healthy democracies need quality local journalism, then join us in donating to support the work that will continue to be done by these great local news titles. 

This is a critical time for local journalism. Its future hangs in the balance. In partnership with you and NEWSWELL, we have the opportunity to ensure a bright future for our publications. Thank you for your continued investment in this essential work.

With excitement and gratitude, 

The Growing Community Media Board of Directors