I’m very happy to announce that the McKinley Park News is now in our 10th year of publishing neighborhood news, having started the publication in 2016 as a unique outlet focusing on a single neighborhood in Chicago.
Since that time, we’ve published nearly 800 original news articles; nearly 30,000 listings of neighborhood events; dozens of pieces in sections like Opinion/Editorial, Obituaries and Local Business Profiles; more dozens of Announcements and Letters from the Editor; evergreen and reference content, from our Maps page to the McKinley Park Neighborhood Plan; exclusive news Video and thousands of Crime Reports, Notable Arrests and Building Permits for our subscribers, and lots of user features you won’t find in other news outlets.
Chief among these are “online community” elements abandoned in large by news organizations. Our membership system has powered free memberships, paid subscriptions and specialty accounts like neighborhood “Institutions,” which lets dozens of non-profits, schools, churches, elected officials, community groups and more connect with our audience.
A Human Community
Interactive features like comments on articles, news polls, the Best of McKinley Park and our Forums let community members share themselves on our trusted platform. Our small size allows an economy of scale that keeps bad actors like spammers, trolls and bots out while enabling authentic, local human connection and communication.
In addition to channeling attention and audience to local events via our calendars, we’ve also been active in bringing initiatives to our community, such as founding and running Chicago’s Birthday Party for its first two years, and being a primary supporter of its third.
Independent Voices
We’re proud to have been a part of and supported the McKinley Park farmers market and the McKinley Park Underage Drinking and Other Substances Abuse Coalition (McK-UDOS). At the start of the COVID epidemic, we set up our Forums to enable the startup of McKinley Park’s mutual aid network.
Most recently, our efforts as a founding member of the Southwest Chamber of Commerce has helped build a space for local businesses to independently collaborate and establish a collective voice.
News Shouldn't Spy
Unique in local news is our commitment to user privacy and security: promising never to sell or disclose user information to third parties, and severing all connection to unwanted consumer surveillance from third parties such as Google.
Your news should not spy on you, but the McKinley Park News is one of the very few places where it won’t.
Primacy of Trust
When starting the McKinley Park News 10 years ago, I decided to do it our own way — what as I see as the right way — in contrast to a news industry that had abandoned too many of journalism’s fundamentals: first and foremost service to the news audience.
Trust is what gives news value, and it is the currency we pursue above all else. We not only operate following the primacy of trust in our editorial operations, but through all our platform and business, too. You can’t trust news from a place that treats readers like products instead of customers.
Growing Audience
I see our success through many measures, including how our neighborhood has grown through increased attention we’ve brought to Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood.
We also see success through our publication’s burgeoning reach and audience, which counts nearly 1,000 members, over 1,100 newsletter subscribers and monthly unique visitors approaching ½ million. It’s gratifying to know that several tens of thousands of Chicagoans (Chicago IP addresses) connect with the McKinley Park News every month.
New Sponsors Discount
Our next stage involves growing the business end of our news product: generating revenue to establish neighborhood news enterprise that ensures longevity. Although our independent publishing platform is highly efficient, and we’ve covered our out-of-pocket costs entirely, the local news business must also support the human labor required to sustain it.
To further this, and to celebrate 10 years of neighborhood news publishing, we’re offering a 10 percent discount on all new Diamond and Platinum sponsors through the end of this year. (That’s hundreds of dollars in savings.)
Marketing Track Record
If you are a local enterprise that wants to reach Chicago’s Southwest Side and enjoy the affinity of a trusted, local, longtime news source, there is no better vehicle than the McKinley Park News.
We so appreciate the dozens of sponsors and advertisers we’ve helped over the years, and we we look forward to helping more.
10 More Years
We also deeply appreciate our readers, members, supporters and friends, who keep us going through all kinds of adversity. We are grateful for the value you give to our independence, originality, consistency and fidelity to our McKinley Park neighborhood and community.
Thank you for putting your trust in us. We’ll look forward to the next 10 years of news and service for you.
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