News-Record.com

When we launched the Town Square initiative, we indicated that a revamped Web site would be a big part of it but that there would be other aspects, too. We're now ready to start talking about one in particular, and because the person leading that effort, Community Editor Betsi Robinson, doesn't have a blog (yet), I'm letting her borrow mine to tell you about it:

A few days ago the Community News Team here at the News & Record met to talk about an exciting new project we are planning in Summerfield. Some of you may have heard about the new community page and Web project we hope to launch in September. In June we hosted two "Backyard BBQs" to find out what residents in your community might like to see included in such a project. Your feedback proved extremely helpful, so now we're getting down to the nitty gritty.

Soon we'll be contacting churches, schools, civic groups and neighborhood associations in Summerfield to find people interested in becoming "community correspondents," people willing to write short stories about what their groups are up to and snap photos at community events. You know, the civic club's latest effort, the Little League championship, the church mission trip, the neighborhood park project, the school play. We figure you know more about what's going on in your community than we could ever hope to.

We're not looking for professional journalists here, just folks who care about the community and want to share news with their neighbors.

The cool thing about this project is that it will be much more than a special page in the paper each week featuring news about your community. Most of what we'll offer by way of news and photos will be posted first on the Web, with the best of what we get appearing in the printed News & Record each week. And we'll have columnists and community bloggers you can converse with.

We hope you'll say yes when we call asking for your help, or point us in the direction of someone who will. The success of this project depends mostly on you. We’re simply providing the forum. We hope it will be the start of a great partnership.

This Summerfield initiative will be duplicated in other parts of our coverage area. Our goal is more inclusive, authentic journalism. We know you want to get your news into the paper. So do we. This is just one more way in which we can do it.

Betsi will be getting her own blog soon so that she can talk with you about this project in more detail. For now, if you're interested in getting involved or have questions, click on the link above to send her an e-mail.