YOUR ELi: Yes, We're Back

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Friday, April 29, 2016, 12:31 am
By: 
Alice Dreger, Publisher

Above: The peach blossoms are also back (in the author's garden).

ELi’s sabbatical was a success. To be honest, I was pretty much constantly on the road for my other (paying!) work while ELi took a public break, but our outstanding Managing Editor Ann Nichols and I managed to stay in touch while she did substantial work researching and thinking about the structures of small, non-profit news service like ours.

During the pause in our reporting, Ann took advantage of ELi’s acceptance as a member of LION Publishers—a membership has meant special access to the wisdom of people running peer organizations. We also benefitted from pausing to consult with many of our terrific local advisors about finances, website layout, market analysis, and more. The brains in this community never cease to astonish and delight us.

During our sabbatical, a number of people also contributed funds to help us keep working, and others offered services, of which we are moving to take full advantage. Ann will be bringing you more news soon in regard to our recent survey, but I can tell you now that as a result of all we’ve learned, we are looking at bringing you some pretty wonderful changes and additions, including most importantly an improved website to serve the community.

ELi is a lot of work, but moments like our sabbatical give us a chance to step back and appreciate just how much love and support there is for ELi in this town. We were so touched to get emails and cards of support, expressing thanks for what the whole team is doing for East Lansing.

Responses to the survey just reiterated that. Seventy-three people bothered to answer the question “What do you see as the strengths of ELi?”

Common answers included “investigative journalism we can’t get anywhere else,” “the quality of the reporting and writing,” “consistent coverage of City Council and East Lansing Public Schools,” and “you tell me things I can’t find anywhere else.” A number of people praised ELi’s team for unbiased and balanced reporting and praised the foundation for paying people in the community to do meaningful community service.

The biggest theme in the batch was summed up by one reader this way: “Local, local, local!” In other words, we are working on taking care of what’s right outside your door. That’s one of the big challenges—it can be hard to report in a small city, and very hard to get people to see why financial support is necessary—but it’s also the precise reason we exist.

Local events, local government, local schools, local people. You are the reason we work so hard. Thank you for getting that.

 

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