Help us cover affordability in SLO County. Your support will directly fund new reporting
We recently launched a new fundraising campaign to bolster our coverage of one issue that you’ve consistently told us is of critical importance to you as a resident of San Luis Obispo County: housing affordability and the high cost of living on the Central Coast.
This will be our second outreach for community support in a year filled with extraordinary news, capped by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and the election.
Back in the spring, when the coronavirus shutdown was taking its heaviest economic toll, we asked readers to help backfill a precipitous loss of advertising revenue that threatened our coverage at the worst possible time.
You responded, and we are so thankful for your support. We exceeded our goal, raising more than $51,000, money that sustained our newsroom during a difficult period.
»» Contribute to The Tribune’s Housing Affordability Reporting Fund
Because of you, The Tribune did not lose a single hour on the job. We worked seven days a week to deliver local journalism that helped you make sense of both the coronavirus and protests in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.
That was nothing short of remarkable, and it was thanks to you.
With your support, we reported on the stories that impact your lives: where to get tests, how a cross-discipline team built an Alternate Care Site at the Cal Poly Rec Center in a matter of weeks, how thousands of people protested in SLO for social justice, and how one young Black woman became a local champion for the movement.
Fast forward eight months, and we find ourselves in a persistent challenge today. And we are asking for your help.
While advertising revenue is improving, it’s not close to being back to where it should be. And yet our county’s need for responsible news coverage remains as critical as ever.
Clearly, COVID-19 will continue to be a topic of utmost importance. But we can’t allow it to prevent us from telling vital stories that are linked but not exclusively about the pandemic.
What we hear from you over and over again is how difficult it is to survive and thrive on the expensive Central Coast.
Can you afford to buy a home here? Is your rent rising again? Do you have to share a home with roommates to make it? Are you a young parent strapped by childcare costs and the pressure of educating your kids at home while juggling work? Are you hoping to retire but simply can’t make the math work?
From our youngest residents to our oldest, this challenge affects nearly everyone.
We want to tell these stories and we need your help to do it.
Our new fundraising effort is specifically dedicated to reporting on how to make our county affordable for regular people.
From now through the end of the year, we are hoping to raise $30,000 to support this effort, once again in the form of tax-deductible donations made through the Local Media Foundation.
If you made a donation before, we are truly grateful and hope you will once again. If you have not yet donated, we hope you will consider doing so now.
It’s quick and easy at givebutter.com/TheTribune. If you prefer to send a check, you can do that too. Please make it out to the Local Media Foundation and in the notes field on the check, write “San Luis Obispo Tribune.” If you include your email address, they will send you a tax donation letter.
The check should be mailed to: Local Media Foundation, PO Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689-5015. If you have any problems or questions, contact me at jtarica@thetribunenews.com or 805-781-7911.
This is only one of the creative ways we’re working to sustain local journalism and fulfill our public service mission of providing you with the news and information that directly affects your life.
We have received more than $10,000 in grants for three specific projects in the past year: Lindsey Holden’s “Substandard of Living” series funded by the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, Kaytlyn Leslie and Cassandra Garibay’s “Outspoken” election project on the needs of younger voters funded by Solutions Journalism Network, and the 10-week summer reporting fellowship by Evelyn Valdez-Ward funded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
We will continue to explore opportunities like these and beyond as we create a new model that allows us to grow again after years of getting smaller.
While we are grateful for your support and readership, we are no means depending only on you.
Thank you as always for your support.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
