COLUMN: NOTL Local needs advice from our readers

The NOTL Local has an ask of its readers — to help us do the job we love. It's not money, it's just a bit of advice — we promise it will take very little time away from everything you already do.

For many of us, September can seem more like a new year than the actual calendar year. It may come from sending kids off for a new year at school, or a job that has a cycle that includes the end of summer and moving into the fall. Certainly in the news business there is a difference between covering all the fun events of the summer months and gearing up for the fall news cycle when so many organizations and programs start their new season.

As the Niagara-on-the-Lake Local begins what feels like a new year, we are working on an initiative that is new to Village Media, with a plan to have it up and running shortly.

It’s been about six months since the NOTL Local made a decision to close its print edition, with Village Media, which operates a large network of successful community news websites, delivering our news online.

We're still the same group of people, doing our best to cover the stories our readers want to know about, and every day, it seems more and more to have been the right decision, allowing us to provide far more value to the community than we could do alone as we continue to be the voice of our community, successful and sustainable.

We hear and feel that support from you, our readers, every day, when you share your stories, reach out with news tips, and provide your constructive feedback, however we also we know there is room for improvement, and that’s where you come in.

The NOTL Local plans to create an advisory board to help us be the best we can be, playing an even stronger role in the community, and ensuring all voices are heard — in every corner of town.

The community advisory board will be an informal body of citizens that our editorial team can use as a sounding board to help us make our coverage more relevant and inclusive. We first published our request to readers in July, and have made a good start with some great people lined up, but we would love to have a few more onboard.

We are looking for six to eight people from different segments of the community, and from varied professional and personal backgrounds, to provide new perspectives — people who represent a range of voices and diversity, including age, income, occupation, ethnicity, ability and gender. This does not include special-interest groups and political organizations.

Some areas we would like to draw from include the non-profit sector, well-known public figures, visible minorities, people from the news industry or with a journalism background, the business world, law enforcement, the youth sector, differently-abled people, and health care and education professionals.

You don’t need to be a member of an established organization, but you do need to be willing to share your opinions and engage respectfully with a diverse group of people focused on creating connections, forming partnerships, building bridges and exploring solutions.

The advisory board's mandate would be to provide unbiased insights and ideas from a third-party point of view. In short, we want to help build better relationships with people and groups whose information needs are not being met.

We want to hear more voices about what we are doing right as well as highlighting areas where we could do better. Fair, quality journalism is a craft, and to us that means always learning and consistently wanting to improve.

We’re asking you to commit to attending just two virtual meetings per year, and hope to have this underway early this fall.

Those interested in being part of this board of community members can email me at [email protected], highlighting your background and the reasons why you want to join us. Or call me at 905-246-5878 — I’d love to chat with you.

We look forward to hearing from you. We are here to listen!