Chicago-area publications join Arizona State’s NEWSWELL

Last summer, interim executive director Max Reinsdorf knew Growing Community Media (GCM) needed to find a more sustainable path forward. The financials simply weren’t adding up.

GCM, which includes four newspapers in the west suburbs and West Side of Chicago, already had converted these titles from commercial to nonprofit status six years ago, but that wasn’t enough.

Now he believes he’s found a pathway to sustainability: NEWSWELL, a nonprofit associated with Arizona State University. On Feb. 25, GCM officially donated its four publications — the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest, the Forest Park Review, the Riverside-Brookfield Landmark and the Austin Weekly News — and they’re the first outlets to join NEWSWELL’s network from outside of California.

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