Company Profile

About Us

Growing Community Media NFP (GCM) produces four independent local publications, online and in print, across seven communities on the west side of Chicago and in its west suburbs. GCM was founded in 2019 and acquired established media outlets Austin Weekly News (1986), Wednesday Journal of Oak Park and River Forest (1980), Forest Park Review (1918) and Riverside Brookfield Landmark (1985), transitioning them to a nonprofit ownership model.

Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, and suburban Oak Park, River Forest, Forest Park, North Riverside, Riverside and Brookfield are at once contiguous and very distinct communities. Each publication reports deeply from within its own community, at a granular level unavailable elsewhere in the local media landscape. GCM’s dedicated newsroom staff produces insightful hyperlocal coverage of each of our seven communities 52 weeks per year.

Mission

Growing Community Media connects citizens through community journalism rooted deep in our neighborhoods, based in facts, and reflective of voices not always heard.

Values

• We are accessible and accountable to our communities.
• Our coverage is authentic, fair and accurate
• We are conscious of and willing to acknowledge our biases.
• We address complex issues and ask difficult questions of ourselves and others.
• We incorporate all voices and perspectives in our reporting, particularly those that are marginalized.