"I was on the phone the other day with a source at a powerful local institution. I’m paraphrasing here, but they said something like: 'It used to be that you couldn’t sneeze around here without it ending up in the paper. Now, nobody is paying attention.' The same could be said of many city councils, businesses, courts, police stations and other power centers across our region. As news companies continue to slash staffing, it’s local democracy and accountability that suffer. That’s where outlets like The Shoestring can step in, covering topics like organized labor, local government and so much more."

-Dusty Christensen, reporter

It sure has been a nice six months not making big, concerted asks of our audience for donations. But, because we wanted to bring more independent news to western Mass than we ever have before, we planned our budget for the year such that we would have to come back and make an ask of you again mid-year.

So here it is: we need to raise a total of $18,000 to stay on track so we can keep bringing you as many investigations, public records deep-dives, and municipal meeting reports as we did in the first half of this year. It’s ambitious, we know: it’s almost as much as we raised in individual donations in the fall, and that was unprecedented for us.

But here’s why we think we can do it: right now, we only have about 150 recurring donors out of 750 newsletter subscribers and over 1,000 followers on social media. If everyone who reads this email became a recurring donor, each person would only have to chip in less than $5 a month. We know that that’s not going to happen, but the point is, when people step up and pay what they can — be it $5 a month, $50 one time, or something else — we can keep independent news freely accessible to the whole Valley and beyond.

Thank you so much for reading and supporting. While you're here, please share this page on social media or however you reach your people! We need all the support we can get to keep independent news alive in Western Mass.

Please note that those interested in donating via check can do so following instructions at theshoestring.org/donate.

ABOUT US: The Shoestring is an independent news publication in Western Massachusetts that provides in-depth and accurate journalism covering local politics, culture, and power. We bring you the stories, perspectives, and context that no one else does, from Northampton and across the Connecticut River Valley.

Read more at theshoestring.org