Update on Contra Costa Civic.News+

Dear Subscribers,

Happy holidays—and thank you for your incredible support!

As you may have noticed, Contra Costa Civic.News+ has been on hiatus for a few months, following an exciting 37-edition run.

Sadly, after significant consideration—and even more hemming and hawing—I have decided to discontinue weekly service of Contra Costa Civic.News+ for the time being. All 75 paid subscribers will receive a pro-rated refund for the remainder of their subscription before the end of 2021. If you purchased your subscription via PayPal or check, I will reach out to you directly to process the refund.

Why the discontinuation? Each weekly edition of Contra Costa Civic.News+ required more than 40 hours of research, writing, layout and operations time. All of this was conducted after my normal work hours, leaving no time to grow the product.

I, like many of you, still believe Contra Costa County deserves a strong local news presence that keeps tabs on all our local governments and political organizations, as well as the community news other outlets miss with their skeleton staffs.

If you or someone you know is interested in working towards this goal, please feel free to reach out to me anytime at jonathan (dot) t (dot) bash (at) gmail.com.

There are many novel models for local news: newspaper co-ops, nonprofits (if Congress passes Rep. DeSaulnier’s H.R. 6068) and even public funding structures, like Community Information Districts. If you are passionate about any of these possibilities and would like to collaborate, I am happy to grab coffee with you.

Have a very happy new year!

Sincerely,

Jonathan Bash