Why I joined the Citizen Collective

In October 2021, my wife and I made a difficult decision.

After lots of debate and conversation, we decided to stop our home delivery subscription to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Our reasoning was grounded in part in the rising cost, shrinkage of coverage and reduction in staff. My wife and I grew up in homes where a local daily newspaper was always delivered and read.

Each summer afternoon, I devoured the baseball box scores from the previous day, and during ACC basketball season, articles about tight games and favorite players were my favorites.

Yes, I miss walking to the end of the sidewalk to pick up the morning paper. Yes, we both miss sitting at the kitchen table holding a section of the paper in our hands. Our collective chuckles at the comics are gone, as are our gentle cheers when an op-ed piece or letter to the editor makes a wise point. We still subscribe to the Times-Dispatch’s on-line version, but it isn’t the same, nor will it ever be.

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In our Henrico community, we can’t allow the transformation at the Times-Dispatch to happen to the Henrico Citizen.

We can’t afford to lose the Henrico Citizen. Losing the Citizen would create a dangerous gap in covering important issues about the county related to governance, schools, public safety, community needs, and successes.

Perhaps you know that Henrico Citizen Publisher Tom Lappas took quite a risk in 2001 when he started the paper. I first met Tom when I was appointed as principal at Lakeside Elementary School. We needed some coverage for a school event, and with no hesitation, Tom helped us.

I’m certain there are residents throughout our county who have praise for Tom or a member of the Citizen’s staff for helping them out by covering a story. Newspapers are grounded in building relationships with people. Fortunately, Tom and his staff have built relationships with the people in our community. Additionally, during the Citizen’s existence, it has earned 250 awards of excellence from its peers in Virginia and national press associations. These honors certify the Citizen’s commitment to reporting local news with truth and accuracy.

Recently, you have noticed a push from the Henrico Citizen called the Drive for 500.

Contrary to what you might think, this is not a new NASCAR race at the Richmond Raceway. The Drive for 500 is a necessary reality in the world of news publishers. To keep writing and distributing news stories to their readers, news organizations must have funding. Publishers pay staff and bills just like other businesses do. The Drive for 500 is a campaign to recruit 500 members for the Henrico Citizen’s new Citizen Collective membership program. As the banner states, this is an opportunity for all of us “to help save local journalism.”

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I sense that Tom Lappas is a humble man, and I suspect that he might feel a bit like a beggar in the creation of the Drive for 500. Yet, in this set of circumstances, if Tom feels like a beggar, I disagree. Tom is simply doing what all good leaders do — they assess the situation, figure out what is required to survive, and launch the means to sustain the organization.

A long time ago, I heard a fellow educator use this phrase in working to secure support for a community group: “People don’t give to needy causes, they give to success stories.”

The Henrico Citizen is a success story, and we need to keep it a success story by supporting the Drive for 500.