Four Chicago-area news titles, serving roughly a quarter million people in the towns west of Chicago (and western Chicago itself), have joined the NEWSWELL network. They are:
These sites, donated by Growing Community Media, are the inaugural Midwest news titles to join NEWSWELL. We now support 14 news titles in two states.
Max Reinsdorf, general manager of the four news sites, said GCM reached out to NEWSWELL “when it became apparent to us, to my board, to me, that NEWSWELL offers the surest path towards sustaining quality journalism in our communities. And what’s most exciting to me is that we have an opportunity now to tap into the resources NEWSWELL offers to build a journalism organization that serves its communities for years to come. We didn’t have that before. We’ll have the scale, the expertise and the resources to build something that lasts.”
Under the NEWSWELL model, local newsrooms — in California and now Illinois — continue to serve their communities with original reporting from locally-based staff under the guidance of local advisory boards. In turn, we provide essential wraparound services — from business strategy to technology, training and shared infrastructure — that enables each publication to focus on what matters most: high-quality local journalism.
NEWSWELL also offers support for investigative reporting, including investigative editing and legal support for public records requests and pre-publication review. These are expenses often out of reach of smaller, standalone publications.
“The goal we have had since the very start was to create intensely local, authentic, independent journalism,” said Dan Haley, longtime editor of the four publications. “I’m really excited about what this offers us. We’ve found an entity that’s as focused on legit local news as we are.”
We’re excited to welcome and support our new colleagues and communities. Thank you for joining us on this journey — to transform and sustain local news to help communities thrive.
This update appeared in our Feb. 25, 2026, newsletter. This version has been lightly edited for clarity.