This week is the three-year anniversary of West St. Paul Reader. Our first post went live on May 14, 2019. For the past three years we’ve been helping West St. Paul know what’s going on, including city council coverage, new development on Robert Street, and interviews with local personalities.
All that local news is made possible thanks to our generous supporters. They’re keeping West St. Paul informed and making this a stronger community. Thank you. You can join them and support local news as a member through Patreon.
West St. Paul Reader Stats
Here’s a look at our numbers since the start:
- 542 posts
- Over 360,000 words
- 150 City Council recap and previews
- 46 interviews
- 31 questions answered
- 13 guest posts
- 5 West St. Paul postcards commissioned
- Most popular post in the last year: High school name change survey
- Support from 144 ongoing Patreon members and 68 founding Kickstarter backers.
What People Say
- “Ya’ll have actually been super useful for all kinds of stuff about WSP and its goings-on, so I love your service!” -Damarra Atkins
- “I am a fan of local news, and I urge others to join me in reading and supporting the West St. PaulReader.” -Joe Atkins
- “Hyper-local news is more and more important these days. That’s why I just became a Patreon of the West St. Paul Reader. I’m especially interested in coverage of the school board meetings and would like to encourage community members to offer your support as well.” -Jessica Stabenow-Mager
Our Next Goal
We’re super close to hitting our next goal: We need just five more people to hit 150 members. Then we’ll unveil our latest locally commissioned postcard and send it out to all of our supporters.
Update: We hit our goal just in time for our anniversary. Time to send out some postcards!
Our Next Big Goal
But we have an even bigger goal: 250 members.
We’ve covered West St. Paul city council meetings since the very beginning, because we believe people need to know what’s happening with local government. Our next big goal is to add coverage of ISD 197 school board meetings.
That kind of coverage requires a lot of work, so it’s a big goal. We’ll need your help to get there.
Support Local News
Help us celebrate our three-year anniversary by supporting our mission of local news. You can support our continued local news coverage and help us expand to include ISD 197 school board meetings by becoming a member through Patreon.
Why Become a Member?
- Consistent support: Recurring payments provide steady support we can rely on and allows us to hire guest writers. You can pay monthly or save 5% with annual payments.
- Benefits: Members get an exclusive, weekly email with insider info, a locally commissioned thank you postcard, discounts, and more.
- Strengthen WSP: Local news is vital for strong communities, and you’ll be making it happen.
Patreon membership starts at just $3 per month. Join now and support local news.
Other Ways to Support
If a recurring payment isn’t for you, that’s OK. You can still support West St. Paul Reader with a one-time payment. We’re grateful for any and all support.
Local businesses can also look into sponsorship or advertising opportunities, starting at just $25 per month.
Thank You
It’s been a privilege to cover West St. Paul for the past three years. If you appreciate our coverage, you can thank our supporters. We couldn’t do it without them. Our Founder’s Wall is an ode to the people who helped launch this site and continue to offer significant support. Our members on Patreon also do the continuing work of keeping us going.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting.
West St. Paul Reader 
With all the print news sources gone you are filling an important role in watching our local governments.
West St Paul, Dakota County and ISD 197 impact our wallets and lives as much or more than the state or federal government.