It started with a podcast. We set out on this journey in 2018, with the simple goal of telling the story of Canby.
We hoped to meet some new people, have some fun, build our skill sets, and we certainly did that! But our little podcast soon became so much more.
The more we grew, the more we found a hunger in our community for the service we were able to provide. The people were starving for local news! The smaller outlets didn’t have the resources to cover our community the way many felt like they should. The larger outlets who had the resources were too big to care about Canby.
Meanwhile, we found we were falling in love with this work, this calling: serving our community, making a real, positive impact on many worthwhile efforts, businesses, organizations and people, and capturing moments that matter.
Despite years in the trenches of street-level journalism, it was the first time we felt we were really coming anywhere close to the lofty mission of the profession: “Afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted.”
But the big problem remained: How to fund it? After more than two years of carefully and diligently working toward a solution, we believe we have one: a thoughtful, fresh, creative, forward-thinking, modern and community-informed approach to covering local news in Canby and making it sustainable for generations to come.
In August 2020, we began to roll out this vision with the announcement of three distinct media properties dedicated to serving Canby in different ways: CanbyFirst.com, the Now Hear This: Canby podcast and The Canby Current newspaper.
Yes, a print newspaper. In 2020. We seek to do something that has not been done in our community since 1906 — launch a print newspaper — because we are convinced print still has a role to play in the landscape of local news.
As much as the internet has grown to occupy a large and important role in most of our lives, it has not — and cannot — replace everything. It cannot replace a hot coffee and a few moments of pleasant conversation at Gwynn’s, a glass of fine wine at Wayward Sandwiches, a cold one at the end of a long day at FOB Taproom or a round of apps at the Wild Hare Saloon.
These are the places — among many others — that you will find the Current.
While we are and will always be a digital-first news organization, a print product represents a permanence and a tangible investment in our community that a website or a podcast cannot replicate.
A newspaper means new jobs, and a means of engaging with our community in new and profoundly meaningful ways. With it, we plan to bring back neighborhood newspaper carriers, carve out platforms for unique and diverse community voices, and help preserve the community identity and meaningful moments that matter so much to all of us.
The foundation of our sustainability model is community support, through three main pathways — sponsorship, advertising and subscriptions — and the newspaper is a key component of all three.
For Canby residents and families who believe in our vision and have the means, we humbly ask for your support. For $15 a month, you will become a founding subscriber of the Current, with a hand-delivered copy of our newspaper on your doorstep every week and a generous portion of your fee also supporting youth athletics in our community.
We also offer subscription tiers of $5 and $1 monthly. Every contribution helps and is deeply appreciated by us. Thank you for considering.
Currently, we are laying the groundwork of financial support necessary to launch this ambitious expansion, hopefully in early 2021. We are actively gathering interest from corporate sponsors, businesses interested in advertising on our three platforms and subscribers.
If you would like to learn more about the expansive sponsorship opportunities and advertising packages we are offering, please contact us at francke@canbyfirst.com. If you are willing to commit to subscribing, please fill out our brief interest survey at surveymonkey.com/r/canbysubscribe.
So, join us. #SwimWithTheCurrent. The water’s fine.
