We hit our initial goal of 50 members! Thank you. Now we focus on our stretch goal of 100 members. At 100 members, we’ll figure out City Council coverage in our expanded communities.
Crazy goal?: Yeah, 100 sounds ambitious. The biggest member drive we’ve ever done brought in 54 members. But that was just West St. Paul. Now we’re expanding to Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights, South St. Paul, and the West Side. With expansion, our potential audience goes from 20,000 to 100,000—a five-fold increase. So merely doubling our goal should be possible.
The incentive: If we can hit that goal, we’ll figure out expanded City Council coverage.
- Background: West St. Paul Reader was built on City Council coverage. It was our very first post.
- Why does it matter: Council coverage matters because that’s where decisions are made. So much that happens in your community starts at that table. But nobody knows. Our coverage can give visibility where its needed most.
- But: Let’s be clear—we can’t cover other cities like we do West St. Paul right now. Doing so would mean nine extra meetings a month, being in four places at once, and costing a third of our current budget. It’s too big of a lift.
- The plan: But we could start. Maybe we’d explore summaries, not covering every meeting, or starting in just one community. It all depends on support. (And if its one community, we’ll pick whoever brings the most support.) We’d need to build toward full coverage, but we’d take those first steps. This is how local news coverage is built—one step at a time.
So join our member drive and support local news. Learn more about member drive rewards or join now.
Watch our video on our 100-member stretch goal:
