A Message from the Publisher by Jennifer Cone Chciuk

We at the West Essex Tribune have some big progress to announce: We have officially taken the first step in converting to a registered 501c3 nonprofit newspaper, by entering into a fiscal sponsorship agreement with the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (more on them and why we made this decision below).
This initial step enables us to accept tax-deductible donations to support the newspaper. Which brings me to my second exciting announcement: We are officially launching a fundraising campaign to support our newspaper.
The Tribune is one of the very few independent weekly newspapers left in New Jersey. The others have been absorbed into big chain operations, losing their local connections, or they have gone out of business – I’m sure most readers have noticed that our newspapers have been smaller for most issues, and unfortunately, it’s getting tougher and tougher for community newspapers to survive. We at the Tribune are determined to remain a viable and sustainable source for the local news of Livingston; transitioning to a non-profit model is a secure way to accomplish that goal.
A guiding partner on this journey is the Corporation for New Jersey Local Media (CNJLM). We have been speaking with CNJLM about nonprofit journalism for more than three years, and we have full confidence that they are the right partner for us. We have watched them work with other local, independent papers, and we feel comfortable that they will be a partner who cares about the preservation of local newsrooms such as the Tribune.
As previously mentioned, the first step of this transition is to come under the fiscal sponsorship of CNJLM, a registered 501c3 nonprofit operating under EIN 85-2177281, which will enable the paper to accept tax-deductible donations. Through the process of fiscal sponsorship, CNJLM will act as a “parent” organization for us, not only helping us prepare for the transition to a nonprofit newsroom but also ensuring that we learn and abide by the best practices of a current nonprofit.
We chose CNJLM for a reason. They are dedicated to preserving and expanding the quality and accessibility of professional journalism that is vital to informed civic engagement and the practice of democracy. The organization’s stated goals are to preserve and strengthen community and nonprofit journalism; to facilitate community access to important local and regional policy issues through print, online, and social media, public events, conferences, and online forums; and to enhance the quality of civic life and expand opportunities for citizen participation in government.
As far as any changes readers might expect to see in the paper, we are happy to say that there will not be any major difference to the Tribune that you read each week. As a fiscal sponsee (and eventually as a nonprofit entity), we can no longer make political endorsements, but we will otherwise operate as we always have.
The staff will remain as it is now: the same people you have known for years and decades. Our staff has a very long history of developing news sources in the community, and nurturing advertisers who want to reach the thousands of Tribune readers. There is no other news source that can offer reports and photographs of Livingston’s local sports teams, schools, municipal government, new construction, and such family news as graduations, weddings, births, and obituaries. Our many advertisers know that the Tribune’s thousands of readers are interested in restaurant menus, holiday sales, the real estate market, competent home services, property improvements, and all of the products and services that are offered in our pages. The point of this transition to nonprofit status is to keep our doors open and deliver all of Livingston’s news to you every week.
So, please, if you value your community newspaper and would like to see it continue into the future, consider supporting us as we begin this conversion into a nonprofit news source and a center of the Livingston community. All donations received will go right back into the business, paying employees, covering printing and mailing costs, facilitating long-needed technology and facilities upgrades, and more.
This is just the first step in a long and exciting process, and we look forward to keeping you updated every step of the way. We hope to have a formal launch event sometime in the spring, and will share news of that in the coming months. We hope to see many of you in attendance! In the meantime, we hope that you will consider a charitable, tax-deductible donation, which can be made by: visiting CNJLM’s website at https://newsweneed.org/a-new-era-livingston/; or mailing a check made out to CNJLM with “West Essex Tribune” in the memo line to P.O. Box 2031, Morristown, NJ 07962.
We thank our readers, advertisers, and the Livingston community, for supporting us for nearly a century. With this transition, we hope to remain an integral part of town for many more.