A lack of funding combined with the pandemic has threatened a community-led magazine with imminent closure if it does not raise more funds.
The goal is £5,000, which would allow the publication to print a winter issue and deliver it to the doors of over 9,400 residents in Burngreave.
It has nearly reached its first target of £1,000, which will help it to ‘keep the lights on’ and continue to post content online.
The news magazine was established in order to provide a local platform that would tell true and positive stories about Burngreave, a community which faces almost entirely negative media coverage.
“The community faces a lot of challenges. There are lots of issues with deprivation, with crime, with drugs, all sorts of things like that. But that’s just one side of the story,” said Colette Wymer, project manager.
A key element of the magazine is its advertising service – advertising local businesses and local services that people can access for cheap or for free.
Ms Wymer said the community itself was going to be massively affected by the cost of living crisis and that was even more of a reason for why the Messenger should continue.
“It’s a mechanism for reducing isolation of individuals in the community and also bringing people together to strengthen community cohesion,” Colette added.
The Burngreave Messenger relies at its core on engagement with the community and face to face engagement, which was drastically hit throughout Covid.
“If this period can be survived, our vision is very much to come back stronger, bolder and with way more opportunities than we’ve been able to offer through the pandemic, with volunteers offering people skills and mentoring for example.”
The Messenger began in 1999, and is the only charity newspaper in the UK. In the future, it plans to decrease a reliance on grant funding and increase revenue through taking subscriptions.
If they reach that point, subscriptions will not be mandatory, so that everyone is able to access the paper regardless of their means.
You can donate to the fundraiser through this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-the-burngreave-messenger
