East Greenwich News is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit news website with a mission to provide news and information about East Greenwich, especially local news you can’t find anywhere else.
Ten years ago, the Town of East Greenwich was covered by two weekly newspapers and the Providence Journal. Online news sites added to that mix starting in 2009 and, briefly, it seemed the town was overflowing with news coverage.
But that was merely the extra brightness emitted by a light bulb just before it dies. The plethora of news outlets, paired with the rise of free online classifieds outlets like craigslist, proved unsustainable. We lost one of the two weekly newspapers; the other abandoned in-depth reporting; EG Patch cut its local reporter, adopting a bulletin-board approach; and the Providence Journal continued to contract – East Greenwich stories appear in that paper but only occasionally.
This is not a problem specific to East Greenwich of course. Communities all over the country have seen an erosion of local news reporting. What does that mean on a practical level? It means no coverage of a Planning Board meeting where they are discussing a proposed housing development; it means not digging into a budget to see how it measures up against the previous year and what it means for a individual residents; it means when there’s a conflict in town, not learning both sides of the story so you can have a more complete picture of what’s happening; it means not getting a chance to learn about the people running for local office..
Simply put, it means holding our public officials to account.
The town website and Facebook can’t do it all and no other publication (print or online) is providing that information.
East Greenwich News is nonprofit because it is dedicated to this community, not to a corporation. We are pursuing revenue from a variety of angles, including corporate sponsorships and foundation grants. But an important revenue source has to be our readers. You are why we are doing this: We believe in East Greenwich. So, please take a minute to read why some readers have donated or made monthly sustaining contributions. Then, fill out the form below and become a donor. We want to build something that will last and we can do that. We just need you!
You can also contribute the old fashioned way – via mail or drop off a check made out to East Greenwich News, to 18 Prospect Street, EG, RI 02818. Thanks!