This week we touched the six-month milestone since the launch of the Estes Valley Voice. We are grateful to our readers, subscribers, sponsors, and advertisers. Thank you all and thank you the generous contributors who helped us not just to reach our goal but to exceed it for a 50-50 match through ColoradoGives.

Thank you to the Colorado Media Project and Colorado News Collaborative for serving as our fiscal sponsor. We will receive a grant of $11,294 from this campaign. As a news startup that runs on a shoestring budget, this funding will go a long way toward paying our writers and keeping the lights on.

None of our stories are behind a paywall because we believe that people should have access to the news, but we depend on the support of paid subscribers, sponsors, and advertisers to keep the doors open. And we deeply appreciate the support of people who believe in the value of local community journalism. Thank you.

Over the past six months, so many people have reached out to say, “keep doing what you’re doing!” What we’re doing is reporting the news.

The Estes Valley Voice is about the community of the Estes Valley. We are hyperlocal. We are independent. And we are journalist led. We report on local elected bodies and the special districts that spend our tax money. We report on local businesses and local events. We report on the people who live and work in the Estes Valley. We believe that people who are elected to public office should be held accountable. We believe in transparency in government, and we believe that the public’s business must be done publicly.

As a news firm, we take our responsibility seriously to promote our community and to foster civic engagement. The Pew Research Center in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation have found that a robust local media is correlated to a higher level of civic engagement.

Civic engagement, including voting in local elections, is vitally important in every American community. Sadly, last spring, only 43% of those eligible to vote in the Town’s elections voted. We can do better.

This spring there will be elections in the Estes Valley for many of our special districts—including two sanitation districts, the fire and hospital districts, and the recreation district. Let’s lean in together to increase voter turnout. We need people willing to stand for the elections—at rough count there will be some 15 seats open on area boards—and we need registered voters to participate in the elections.

Colorado makes voting so easy. Voters get their ballot in the mail, and they can return it in special drop off boxes, or they can put a stamp on the envelope and stick it in the mail. What could be easier?

Civic engagement is part and parcel to the workings of a healthy democratic republic. While many board meetings are as dry as toast—I often joke that’s why they are called “board meetings”—local government is a cornerstone of our society.

Members of the public need to show up at public forums and speak out during the time set aside for public comment. Community members need to write letters to elected officials and also send letters and opinion editorials to the editor for publication.

Be part of the process. It is easy to complain on social media—grouse, grouse, grouse—but it takes courage to show up in person and take a position. It is often said if you’re not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Show up, lean in, and be part of the solution to community problems. And inform your opinions with information.

This year we have held two public forums for civic engagement. In August we had an Estes Chamber ribbon cutting and held a screening of “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink.” More than 125 people turned out for the documentary about what is happening in journalism across the county as large corporate hedge funds gobble up small town newspapers, sell off the newspaper’s real estate, close printing plants, and squeeze down the writing and editing staff into a skeletal crew. It cripples local, independent journalism.

In October, right before the fall elections, we brought another film to town, “Trusted Sources” which deals with the role of the media in providing credible information. After the film, we had a panel discussion with Estes Park Mayor Gary Hall, Rev. Elizabeth Jameson, Estes Valley Voice columnist Elisabeth Sherwin, and Vanessa Otero, the developer of the Media Bias Chart® for a conversation about the role of the media in the public square particularly concerning political discourse.

We also had the opportunity to serve as a media sponsor for the Dementia Together Living Well with Dementia symposium held Oct. 23 at the Community Center which drew more than 100 people to network and learn about the SPECAL method—Specialized Early Care for Alzheimer’s—that offers care providers management techniques and support in caring for a person with dementia.

Over the next few months, the Estes Valley Voice will turn some of its reporting focus on the Colorado State House with an eye on what the legislature is doing that will impact on our corner of Larimer County. Hank Lacey, a seasoned journalist and retired lawyer who covers legal affairs, the courts, housing, and the environment for the EVV, along with our University of Colorado-Boulder journalism intern, Lincoln Roch, will be covering this year’s legislative session.

We will also take a look at issues about immigration in the wake of national conversations about legal status, deportation, and rights. Senior writer Barb Boyer Buck, will do a deep dive into this issue beginning with an interview with local immigration attorney Autumn Nelson of the Citizen’s Project.

We will continue to look at how local governing bodies are doing the public’s business, and we will press for accountability and transparency. We believe the letter of intent signed by EP Heath to affiliate with UCHealth should be made available to the taxpayers of the Park Hospital District. We have made a formal Colorado Open Records Act request for that document and while we have been told the letter of intent is “privileged” and the public will never see it. It begs the question: what is in that letter that the hospital board does not want the public to know? The people have a right to know what is being negotiated in regard to their taxpayer funded public hospital.

Senior editor Suzy Blackhurst and I will continue to press for its release with the same “dog with a bone” determination we did with our Colorado Open Meetings law concerns with the way the Estes Valley Fire Protection District board made a decision in an executive session in hiring the new chief. Colorado law demands that publicly elected and appointed boards make decisions in pubic with full accountability for the process.

Because the rule of law is so important to the democratic process, the EVV will be hosting a forum in February on the Colorado Open Records Act for all elected officials in the Estes Valley, people interested in standing for election for a public board, for record custodians, and for interested members of the community.

Self-nomination papers are due by the end of February for people interested in running for a seat on a board. Serving on an elected or appointed public board is different than sitting on the board of a for profit or nonprofit organization and it is imperative that board members who take an oath to uphold the laws of the state understand the open meeting and open record laws that govern the operation of the board on which they sit.

This week I am meeting with one of our writers, Omayra Acevedo and our administrative manager, Sandra Torres, to talk about how the Estes Valley Voice can meet the needs of our Spanish speaking community. With the help of Brett Wilson, our director of podcasts, perhaps we might podcast our articles in Spanish. We will begin to look for a sponsor to help cover the costs of doing this. And if you haven’t had a chance to see Brett’s video Christmas card to the Estes Valley, its not too late to enjoy some holiday magic, or to catch his wonderful interview with photojournalist Dawn Wilson. We are delighted to have Dawn join our team as a contributing writer and photographer.

Dick Mulhern has provided us with some delightful editorial cartoons, and we look forward to more to come. For the most part, Dick’s cartoons have taken a lighthearted look at life in the Estes Valley, but editorial cartoons also can lampoon issues and people and help us to take a closer, more critical look at ourselves and our blind spots. We are prepared for Dick to frame important issues in his unique artistic style.

As an internist and psychiatrist specializing in behavioral and addiction medicine, Terry Rustin offers the Estes Valley Voice an expert voice on health care stories in addition to interesting feature articles.

Elisabeth Sherwin has some wonderful book reviews on board for us. Not all of the books she reviews are local or even Colorado authors, but it is fun to discover good reads by those who also call the Centennial State home. If you have suggestions for books Elisabeth may want to review or authors to interview, please let us know.

Speaking of Colorado authors, the EVV is partnering with Good Sam’s to host an author talk with Ron Pevney of Fort Collins who has just released a tenth anniversary edition of his book “Conscious Living, Conscious Aging.” The event will be on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 2:30. More details will be forthcoming.

We will continue to promote our civility initiative, Civility in the Estes Valley Begins with Me. Civility is not about avoiding difficult conversations; civility is about having difficult conversations in a respectful manner. We invite you to take the civility pledge and to read Alexandra Hudson’s book “The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves.” The author’s message is about living respectfully with others despite deep differences, rigorously protesting wrongs, and learning to debate issues rather than attacking people’s character or silencing disagreements.

Honest and robust public discourse is essential to a civil, democratic society, and respecting others and the rule of law often means telling hard truths. As a journalist, I know firsthand that it is not easy to report on difficult stories that some people, often people in power, would prefer not to be told.

We are excited to serve as a media sponsor for First Peoples Fashion Show on Jan. 18 which will be part of the second annual First People’s Festival Jan. 17-18, a celebration of Indigenous culture, art, music, language, oral traditions, films and much more. In his Mayor’s Message published in the EVV, Mayor Gary Hall wrote, “The heritage of America’s Indigenous cultures have great relevance to how we chart our future course, with proper caretaking of, and relationship to, our precious natural resources. The history of the Native American people reminds us that collaboration and cooperation between all cultures is the superior path to our human future.”

Please let us know what stories you think we need to report on. Call (970-586-1888) or email (news@estesvalleyvoice.com) us with tips about interesting people or events. Our editorial, writing, creative, and administrative team looks forward to the next six months, to ringing the bell on our first anniversary, and to many more years of writing and reporting on the Estes Valley community we call home.

Thank you. And Happy NEWS Year.

Listen to story on the EVV Podcast here: