Impact snapshot from a Press Forward grantee newsroom

Who: Allison Sayer, editor, Copper River Record

Allison Sayer

What: A weekly newspaper that connects the far flung communities within the Copper Basin in south-central Alaska, highlighting people and places that make the region unique, and informing readers about developments that could impact their lives. 

The paper reports on a variety of topics including local elections, education news, subsistence hunting, fisheries, sports (including dog mushing) and more. 

Where: The Copper Basin region in Alaska, covering more than 20,000 square miles and about 3,000 people. It contains seven Ahtna Native villages.

Why: The paper aims to serve trusted information to readers with varied cultures, beliefs, and values. While the newsroom has grown, the staff remains true to the publication’s roots as a community newsletter. They highlight events and services for local veterans, celebrate the Native Ahtna culture and language and bring visibility to the local LQBTQ+ community.

How: The Copper River Record builds community and increases its impact in these ways:

• The paper held two community meetings, one in Kenny Lake and the other in the tiny Native village of Tsedina. They learned about residents’ concerns, including issues with water management, reliable electricity and the destruction of Native gravesites to build a road.
• They have been integrating the Native Ahtna language into the newspaper, including in articles and photo captions. They plan to add audio recordings in Ahtna, a vocabulary page to reflect what kids are learning in an Ahtna language immersion program and have already integrated Ahtna into weather graphics. “As far as I know they are the first and only graphics with Ahtna words in a newspaper!” said Sayer.
• A designer helped revamp their Community Calendar and graphics, including Weekend Weather and Temperature graphics. A tech contractor is helping to revamp the website, which will better manage subscriptions.
• Two community members participated in an “Earn Your Press Pass” community journalism training, paid for by grant funds, which helped expand the range of stories they could cover with more voices in the paper.

“We have been able to talk with a wider range of people for our news stories to learn about how they are impacted by local issues, and follow up on stories over time thanks to the grant funds. There has been an uptick in subscriptions which we hope is related to the improvement in our coverage but we can’t say for sure.”