What is Village Connector’s mission?
Village Connector was created to give local communities the ability to tell their own stories, by authoring articles about the positive things going on their communities. It’s both a news source and a communications tool for local communities.
Why did you create Village Connector?
Mainstream media outlets have been challenged in the economic downturn to generate enough revenue to cover all the news that should be covered in local communities. Village Connector’s digital infrastructure allows us to publish as much news as fits our publishing philosophy, without worrying about having enough paid advertising to match up with page counts.
What is your publishing philosophy?
Our publishing philosophy is to share the good news in communities. We believe that focusing on negativity, controversy, and confrontational issues attracts more of that into the lives of community members. Our goal is to balance out what you get in mainstream media with the positive things that often go under-reported.
Why don’t you cover local politics?
In our experience, political chatter tends to divide communities rather than unite them. Political affiliations, political agendas, and political propaganda distract neighbors from effectively coming together to advance common goals in their communities, so we simply have chosen not to join in fueling that fire. Instead, our goal is to get people focusing on the issues that unite us rather than dwelling on the ones that divide us.
What other services does Village Connector offer?
In addition to the news in your community, online community newspapers have reference resources like contact information for important public service agencies in your community, school directories, and directories for charities, community organizations, and places of worship.
Village Connector’s parent company also operates a community support system called ConsumersWin.com. This program is designed to save consumers money when they shop with local merchants in their community. Consumers purchase a $20.00 membership card and receive a 10% discount when they shop with local participating merchants. Encouraging local shopping strengthens local communities and keeps economic resources improving quality of life locally.
The program also has a very powerful charitable component since charities in your community use membership card sales to conduct fundraisers. Our fundraising opportunity is unique because the consumer membership cards are available to charities free of charge, but they keep 100% of the proceeds when they sell them, and of course, their supporters save money when they shop, an average of $300.00-500.00 per year in most cases.
Who writes for the Village Connector?
We like to partner with all sectors of the community to work collaboratively to produce the newspaper in your community. All are welcome to submit stories and apply to write with us. We specifically reach out to journalism students at local high schools and colleges, to give them a chance to show their talents, earn credit in some instances, and otherwise get practical experience with things they are learning in school. When they graduate they can then list us on their resumes and get a favorable recommendation from us if they’ve done a good job.
Does the Village Connector sell advertising?
Yes. We have a limited number of advertising slots in each community and we prefer to make these available to small local business owners, to give them an opportunity to support the program and to reach their local customer base.
How can I find out more about the Village Connector and get questions answered that are not addressed here?
Call us at 301-776-1490 ext. 101 for more information about Village Connector. We are pleased to serve you and get your questions answered.
