For the McKinley Park News, the Chicago Independent Media Alliance (CIMA) has been the most supportive and consequential organization helping our small local news business.
CIMA is a collection of nearly 50 independent Chicago news publishers, from online-only publications like the McKinley Park News through storied local print newspapers serving their Chicago neighborhoods for nearly 100 years.
CIMA has helped us in so many ways: It’s connected us to fellow journalists and news publishers in Chicago, plugged us into resources to support our operations, helped us promote our advertising services, and served as our best source for support in our fight against larcenous large language models.
Most significantly, CIMA has helped us with the costs of bringing your local news to you through past fund-raising: This is one of the things that put us “into the black” for 2022 (even though we’re still working toward a point of sustainability where I can afford to pay myself).
Now, we’re asking for your help again. CIMA’s current fund-raiser is active right now through June 19, 2023, and your donations this year get evenly split among participating members, supporting both the McKinley Park News and so many of our fellow independent publishers bringing original news and information to you.
Every dollar helps! For micro-local publications with minuscule budgets like the McKinley Park News, the money that the CIMA fund-raiser provides is immensely impactful. We stand beside all of our fellow member publications, the unique value we bring to you and so many others, and the good use your donations will be put toward: high-quality, original, local journalism.
Over the past three years, CIMA’s fundraiser has raised more than $500,000 to support grassroots newsrooms in the Chicago area. These outlets and media organizations have created award-winning coverage of emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental racism in Chicago’s BIPOC communities, news podcasts on the LGBTQ+ community and much more.
Individually, CIMA’s 66 members representing 80 individual products reach anywhere from a few hundred readers to millions, for a combined readership of at least 8.4 million. Nearly 20 percent of members reach primarily black Chicagoans, overlapping with around 13 percent of outlets that primarily reach Latino communities. They also reach the LGBTQ+, immigrant, Arab-American, Korean-American, Polish-American communities and others. They reach all 77 community areas in Chicago with the majority covering the South and West sides, as well as suburbs including Cicero, Harvey and Evanston.
During the fundraising campaign, CIMA will also be hosting two virtual events, one on social movements and media and the other on how technology impacts local media. For more information about CIMA and its members, visit here.
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