As I look back on 2022, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
Since launching Community Forward Redlands newsletter earlier this year, I have been blown away by the response from the community. In just five months we’ve reached thousands of readers through our social channels and grown an active subscriber base. Your support has made clear the desire for local journalism that goes deeper into stories, leverages data to provide context, and shares insights that can guide solutions.
With so many new subscribers, I want to take the chance to look back at some of our most popular articles this year.
When revisiting the top five stories, you’ll see they all have one thing in common - they connect the dots between broader state and national trends and the real human impact within our community.
These stories pinpointed sometimes intuitive issues (a lack of trees in North Redlands, scarcity of affordable housing) or common misperceptions (the impact of Measure F on development) and provided the opportunity to see these issues in the context of local data, neighborhoods, residents' stories, and the words of local leaders.
In the case of Residents Fight Renoviction, City Council Responds, the national pain point of affordable housing is connected to the personal impact of long-time Redlands residents no longer being able to live and participate in our community.
In the case of The Shade Divide, the overwhelming challenges of climate change are connected to a tangible solution of increasing shade equity in North Redlands, building up the entire city’s resilience towards climate change.
During the mid-term election, our local election coverage provided a unique side-by-side look at how candidates planned to move the community forward and revealed common ground around issues of housing affordability, homelessness, and climate change resilience.
Drawing these connections in our city allows us to see each other as part of the same community, often working towards a common goal of well-being and prosperity.
Here’s to 2023
As the year comes to a close, I have three kids at home enjoying three weeks of winter break. I look forward to some needed family time and plan to take a break from publishing until after the new year.
In the meantime, we are continuing to work on important stories highlighting the evolving needs, trends, and work impacting our neighborhoods, schools, environment, and community in 2023.
Thank you for supporting Community Forward Redlands and the vital work of local journalism in our community.
