ELi’s People

The team:

ELi is a non-profit corporation whose public service is made possible by a large, decentralized team of local folks who are motivated by the mission of providing real news of the people, by the people, and for the people of East Lansing, Michigan. If you get what we're doing, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution today.

Our reporters:

ELi uses a “citizen reporter” model wherein we encourage “embedded” citizens to always be aware of potential news around them that they should consider sharing. (For some diverse examples of how we report what is immediately around us, see this or this or this.) When it comes to covering things like City Council and the school board, we use a more predictable model where we assign reporters. Some of our reporters elect to be paid, and many volunteer their service. Many people in East Lansing participate by sending in story ideas and tips, which we then assign to reporters.

Our reporting team has so far included over one hundred people. Some folks are regular reports, some jump in to report once on their particular area of local knowledge. You can meet them if you click here.

Our editors:

Our editing staff manages ELi’s content and holds the ELi team to ELi's publication standards. We use an approach that sends almost all articles through at least two editors (one content editor plus a copy-editor) and often more. Our goal is to always publish work that is comprehensible and accurate, and that doesn’t waste a reader’s time.

Our tech managers:

A website with a lot of editors, a lot of content, a lot of readers, and a lot of great features (like the map of reporting you'll find on our front page) requires tech managers who are skillful, patient, knowledgable, and reliable. Ours are. Lisa Lees and Morgan Lees keep ELi's Drupal-based website running smoothly, dealing with security updates, interface glitches, server issues, and so much more that you would never realize we need. To read about ELi's tech management team, click here.

Our Board of Directors:

ELi is not owned by anyone; it's a nonprofit corporation run by a volunteer (unpaid) team of directors. The Board of Directors sets policies, advises the ELi management staff, and most of all, ensures that ELi stays on-mission, providing nonpartisan, accurate, timely news and information to the people of East Lansing. To meet our Board of Directors, click here.

Our readers and supporters:

ELi is free to everyone; we never charge to read our content or to subscribe to our weekly emailed news digest. Analytics tell us that our readers are who you would expect--thousands of people grouped in and around East Lansing, Michigan. A subset of those folks invest in this public service by making tax-deductible donations. To see who has supported us financially, click here.