OPINION|
When I joined the staff of the Hauxeda as Number Six (anyone else out there a Prisoner fan?), I had already weathered three startups: one for real, two more if you count a complete organizational revamp (believe me, if you’ve been through one, you do).
So, I knew to expect a ton of hard work, lots of late-night camaraderie, way too many inside jokes, and more than my fair share of pre-launch (and post-launch!) craziness. What I didn’t expect was to fall in love.
Let me be clear. This isn’t a pre-resignation confession about one of my colleagues; it’s a forever statement about the nonprofit news industry. Before I came to the Daily Citizen, I had spent the bulk of my career happily ensconced in the arts and culture field. I knew that very small world intimately — the executives, the funders, the major donors, the collectors. So, there was a little bit of a learning curve here.
It's no exaggeration to say that I took to the news business like a duck to water, and not just because I’m a politics junkie and an avid news consumer myself. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a great believer in the American democratic experiment, and in the idea that democracy cannot exist without dialogue (that’s why my husband and I moved to Springfield in the first place; I’ll tell you that story some other time).
I believe that in order to sort out the needs and demands of a growing community, there must be difficult conversations involving a diversity of people — with often dissimilar viewpoints — working together toward a consensus that will benefit the greatest possible number of people. How better to foster those conversations than via a news outlet designed, to quote our mission, “to inform our community and be a catalyst for good.”
After 30 years in nonprofits, I’d finally found my niche.
No one was more surprised than I, therefore, that come last fall — around the time the Daily Citizen turned 18 months old — I started to wonder about what might come next.
2023 was not the easiest year on record for many of us; three years of COVID-19 had taught a still-reeling nation that life after a pandemic was going to be a lot different from life before. In my case, 2023 also held a number of wake-up calls. My dad died in March; I had a significant birthday; and, by the time fall rolled around, I had started to wonder how I could continue to best serve the communities I love while learning how to stop neglecting myself. At the same time, a thought I’ve had many other times in my career began to push its way into my brain: “It is time for this organization to find a path forward that does not necessarily involve you.”
And here we are.
The Daily Citizen and I have had almost seven weeks to get used to the idea of my leaving. On March 22, that idea will become a reality. Before I go, let me answer publicly the three most common questions I’ve gotten about my departure:
- No, Roy and I are not leaving Springfield. We love it here. This is our home. (If you see me around town, please say hi!)
- I have no idea what comes next. That means, I’m resuming my consulting practice, and I’m open to working with a variety of nonprofit organizations looking for help with strategies toward growth (if you’re interested, you can find me on LinkedIn here). I hope lots of those organizations will be in this industry that I have come to understand as well as love. I’ll also be dipping my toes back into writing; stay tuned on that front.
- Yes, I’ll still support the Daily Citizen. And so should you.
Fellow Springfieldians: This is my last chance to say this to you from this desk. Nonprofit news is the way forward for the news business, but, more importantly, for you, and for our community.
The Daily Citizen is the elegant synthesis of the desire of our community to deeply know our friends and neighbors — and their challenges — and the desire of a truly wonderful group of people to bring that community together to do some good. You should support this work. The overhead is not large; the ambition to achieve the mission is. Subscriptions are not expensive; every donation counts.
The Daily Citizen has consumed a huge amount of my time over the past 2.5 years; more importantly, it has captured my heart. My great thanks to all the talented people who brought this idea to fruition, and to my colleagues, who will keep it going and whose friendship I treasure.
To our readers, especially those who have taken the time to reach out to me during my tenure here: Thank you for supporting this experiment, and for making the Daily Citizen a success over its first two years.
And to my adopted hometown: Thanks for welcoming me. I’ll try to keep paying it forward.
Peace out.
