We have many important stories to tell. Your support will help The Observer tell them.
One thing we’ve all needed a bit of, after everything 2020 has thrown at us, is some uplift. For The Observer’s news team, we got a welcome jolt of it in the spring when we asked for the community’s help supporting our journalism.
Our readers and our community picked us up with their financial donations, their subscriptions and a flood of encouraging words about the importance of journalism and its role in our democracy — especially in such a time of uncertainty.
That support was critical to helping us get a start on funding for two reporting positions that we believe are vital to our community’s information needs — and that you, too, told us are urgent priorities in Charlotte.
Several hundred of you stepped up in the spring to help us fund reporting focused on affordable housing and the city’s underrepresented communities.
That generous support from readers and philanthropies made it possible for us to report important stories in the past months — journalism made all the more necessary because of COVID-19 and its impact on already vulnerable people and communities.
We’ve tracked concerns about looming evictions, and efforts to forestall loss of homes. Our team has reported on concerns about expiring aid to head off rent worries. And as growth and development push forward despite the pandemic, we talked to residents about their hopes that Black investors can protect Beatties Ford Road from gentrification. And about that uplift we all need — we also told readers about a young activist on the rise, and his work to be a force for good.
Lauren Lindstrom and Devna Bose, the journalists covering these stories, have worked relentlessly to keep our community informed.
Much has changed in the months since I asked for your support — the killing of George Floyd sparked protests across the country, and long-needed frank conversations about racism and racial equality in our community and nation. Tensions were high through months of campaigning for an election with significant consequences locally and nationally. And the pandemic marches on, gaining strength again as we turn to fall and winter.
Our need for community support of our journalism is as deep as ever. I’m asking now for you to help us get to the finish line on funding these positions, covering affordable housing and underrepresented communities.
We’ve launched our fall fundraising campaign, in partnership with the Local Media Foundation, which makes it possible for you to make tax-deductible contributions to support this journalism.
If you made a donation before, we’re deeply grateful and hope you will renew your support. If you haven’t donated, we hope you will consider doing so now.
You can visit givebutter.com/TheCharlotteObserver to make a donation — and leave us a note of support if you want to give us some of that uplift I mentioned.
If you’d prefer to send a check, you can do that too. Please make it out to the Local Media Foundation and in the notes field on the check, write “Charlotte Observer.” If you include your email address, they will send you a tax donation letter.
Checks may be mailed to the Local Media Foundation, PO Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689-5015. If you have any problems or questions, please contact Adam Waxman at awaxman@newsobserver.com.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 12:29 PM.
