Reader awarded national grant

By Ben Olson
Reader Staff

Some news is a pleasure to share. This is that kind of news.

The Reader was one of 205 small, local newspapers across the nation awarded a grant, thanks to funding from Press Forward — a national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. The grant comes from a shared $20 million dedicated to closing persistent coverage gaps in local media. The Reader’s grant totaled $100,000, with half awarded now and the remaining half at the end of 2025.

While Press Forward initially intended to award only 100 grants, “Motivated by the extraordinary quality and number of proposals, Press Forward is funding twice as many news organizations as it originally anticipated through its first open call,” the organization wrote.

The Reader’s was one of more than 900 applications submitted from across the nation and the only newspaper in Idaho to receive a grant.

The Reader crew, past and present at Matchwood Brewing Co. at the Sept. 20 release party for the “Drink the Reader” community can. From left to right: John Reuter (former publisher), Cameron Rasmusson (former editor), Ben Olson (co-owner, publisher), Soncirey Mitchell (staff writer) and Zach Hagadone (editor). Photo by Woods Wheatcroft.

To say this is a game changer is an understatement. Since I brought the Reader back into publication in 2015, this newspaper has survived mainly because we have learned to eliminate as much overhead as possible and wear as many hats as we can to ensure we live up to our motto: “Support an informed community.”

Those aren’t just empty words. Along with Editor Zach Hagadone and Staff Writer Soncirey Mitchell, we’re committed to making this a better place, one page at a time. Aside from our editorial staff, the Reader is thankful to have Sandy Bessler keeping the books with a smile, Chris Bessler at Keokee Media giving constant support of our endeavors, and all the many writers and artists who have submitted their work over the nearly 10 years the Reader has been back from the dead.

This paper is a labor of love. It always has been, even during the first iteration when Zach, John Reuter and Chris DeCleur founded it after brainstorming over beers at the end of a dock in McCall. Counting those first eight years, the Reader has been a part of Sandpoint life for nearly two decades. We’ve seen some good times and quite a few bad ones. We’ve struggled, we’ve persevered, we’ve burned out and risen again. We’ve learned a lot about what our readers desire out of a free weekly paper, and each week brings its own set of challenges.

The grant will provide much-needed funding to help our paper remain vital for years to come. While it won’t solve the looming problem of print publications like ours shuttering at an alarming rate throughout the country, it will ease some of that pressure for a short time.  

Thank you to Press Forward for including the Reader as one of their recipients. Thank you to our advertisers for keeping us afloat all these years. Thank you to all of those who have had their work published in the Reader — this is your paper as much as it is ours. Thank you to the many patrons who have donated to the paper over the years. We truly couldn’t have made it without you, and noting those donations certainly gave us an edge over the competition in our application. 

Finally, thank you to you, dear readers. Your tireless support of this endeavor means the world to us.