Kevin Hendricks here, founder and editor of the West St. Paul Reader. I want to talk honestly about how this local news thing works and why we need your support.
What we do: The West St. Paul Reader offers local news narrowly focused on West St. Paul. It’s freely available on our website with no paywall. So how does that work?
How it’s paid for: We’re member supported. Neighbors like you pay a few bucks a month to support us. Right now we’ve got more than 340 members who believe in local news. There are a few advertisers, local businesses who believe in our mission, as well as a handful of one-time donors. But mostly it’s just neighbors like you (they understand the assignment). We’re incredibly grateful for their support. But…
It’s part time: For all that support, it’s still only a part-time gig.
- Our staff is just me. I may use the second person plural ‘we,’ but it’s really just me.
- We do hire contributors occasionally—and students whenever possible—but it’s not consistent work.
- People ask my wife if I work for the Reader, and she replies, “No, he is the Reader.”
Real talk—we do a lot with a little: We regularly crank out 15 stories or more per month. We cover every West St. Paul City Council and ISD 197 School Board meeting. We do extensive coverage of local elections ignored by most outlets. We routinely break stories before the major news outlets and highlight local neighbors they would never focus on.
My day job: That’s all possible on a part-time basis because I have other work. I’ve been doing freelance writing and editing for more than 20 years. West St. Paul Reader is effectively one of my clients. It accounts for about a third of my income (and honestly? way more than a third of my time). Not many folks could make a hyperlocal news site like this work because it doesn’t pay a full-time wage. You need other jobs to make it work.
The problem: I lost a big freelance client this summer. Another client has been way less consistent—some months the hours are down 75%. As that lost income starts to impact my family, something has to give. I’ll need to find new freelance work.
But there is another way: You don’t always need other jobs to make it work. West St. Paul Reader could grow to become a full-time deal. I’d love to be full time. That would require tripling our support. We’re not there yet. But we started this in 2019, and it’s grown incredibly since then. It’s possible.
Enter the member drive: That’s why we’re doing this Level Up Local News member drive. We want to take West St. Paul Reader to the next level. Full time is likely out of reach right now. But we can level up local news and start moving in that direction.
- Redesign: Right now we’re working toward level 4—redesign. If we can get 40 new members, we’ll give the site a much-needed redesign that will incorporate more photos and video, highlight local events, and more.
- Hire students: At 50 members, we’ll hire at least six students a year. It’s important to give the next generation a shot. Growth shouldn’t be all about me.
- Elections: If we can reach 60 members, we’ll expand our election coverage. The 2026 election will be big, especially locally with open seats and new candidates. Let’s hear from them sooner rather than later.
- More: And we’ve got more levels to unlock at 70 and 75 members—though that’s a big stretch.
The alternative: The other option is to accept that local news has to be a part-time gig. I have bills to pay like everyone else, and if West St. Paul Reader doesn’t grow to replace that lost freelance work, then I need to find more freelance work. That takes up more of my time and the Reader faces hard limits. We already have limits and there are stories we just don’t have the resources to do, but we’d need to cut back more. That’s just the practical reality. I love this work, but at some point it needs to pay a living wage.
So there it is: Cards on the table, that’s how it works. If we’re going to grow into a sustainable local news outlet that’s one day more than just me, we need to grow.
The pitch: So help us level up local news. Every new member gets us closer to unlocking more. It starts at just $3 per month. We’ve got a bunch of rewards and gift cards as a bonus for joining during the member drive. But at the end of the day, local news is a group effort. Will you do your part?
Thank you.
