Thank You John Wilson, Departing Alley Communications Board Member
John began attending Board meetings during the transition time in 2018 when Alley Communications began to move from a few people holding the reins to our current structure—–a small group of dedicated volunteers serving on the Editorial Leadership Committee (ELC) who guide the paper into place each month. The ELC is a standing committee of the Board who now number 5 people.
Community newspapers have been important to John. He remembers picking up as many free papers that he could, some which no longer exist. In addition to serving on the Board for the last couple of years, John also writes the “Transit” column. This column will continue from time to time when there are updates or changes that impact the Phillips Community.
One suggestion John has for the paper is to have a regular column written by a financial institution that offers advice to residents. His biggest hope for the alley is that the paper continues to be published and is free and available to as many people as possible. Thank you John—we will continue to try our very best to do so!
Welcome, Cirien Saadeh!
We are so excited to have Cirien join the Board of Alley Communications. Cirien is a Twin Cities community journalist and organizer. She has a wealth of experience, and like all of us who participate in the alley newspaper and Alley Communications, she believes the paper serves as a vital community resource.
Over the next few months, we hope you will be hearing more about community journalism trainings through the Journalism of Color Training Center (JCTC) which Cirien is part of. Alley Communications and JCTC are hoping to collaborate in offering these trainings.
Summer of 2023 and the alley
There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes each month to have the alley land on the doorsteps of 3000 households or approximately 150 newsstands throughout South Minneapolis. For the June issue alone, there were well over 75 people and organizations who contributed volunteer time by writing content, copyediting, or other efforts to that single issue. This is what community journalism takes to tell our own stories in our own voices.
Warmer weather allows us an excellent opportunity to put some of our faces with our names. More importantly, we get to meet and talk with you, build and deepen relationships, and learn what YOU would like to see in the paper.
While Phillips West Neighborhood Organization and East Phillips Improvement Coalition events were rained out in May, here are photos of the some of the events we were able to show up at in the months of May and June:
