Shining a light on Eden Prairie’s ‘story of us’

Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) is becoming a beacon of community journalism as the lights of other local news outlets flicker out.

Since you’ve found your way to eplocalnews.org, you know we’re independent, largely volunteer-driven, non-profit, non-partisan, and committed to non-fiction. Our vision for 2024: With the support of our subscribers and community partners, EPLN’s light will shine even brighter, helping make Eden Prairie a better place to live and work.

We’re proud of our team and our growing readership!

In the past 30 days, 61,721 users viewed 126,337 pages. Those page views are 15% above our monthly average in 2023. Read Juliana Allen’s beat reporting on contract negotiations between Eden Prairie Schools and its teachers, Jim Bayer’s story of child maltreatment at a daycare, or Lea Jacobson’s features on Hattie Cronk’s journey to health or where you can get a good cup of coffee. You’ll see how compelling EPLN’s coverage can be.

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Our focus this year will be local election coverage. 

EPLN’s 2022 voter guide focused mainly on those running for positions exclusive to the Eden Prairie ballot, such as school board, city council, and state Legislature. This fall, we’ll mail a printed voter guide to all 26,000 households in Eden Prairie, thanks to our partnership with the League of Women Voters.

Besides our work with the League, we’ve also strengthened partnerships with other non-profits who work for the good of Eden Prairie.

Last October, we hosted a town hall to explore the local impact of artificial intelligence, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and a group of sponsors led by Optum, Southwest Transit, and Flagship Bank. We work closely with the EP Community Foundation; the Foundation and EP AM Rotary funded our eight-part series on the mental health of EP’s young people.

We’ll be exhibiting at the Eden Prairie Chamber’s Spring Expo at Grace Church on March 9 and at the AM Rotary’s Eco Expo at Eden Prairie Center mall on April 20. Please come say hi!

Communication through our reader portal increased this year by 70%. We’d like to hear even more from you. Did you know we publish obituaries of local residents for free? Contact us with news at editor@eplocalnews.org, or with story ideas, letters to the editor, or advice and complaints. Your feedback helps us measure impact and calibrate our coverage.

None of this would be possible without your support. We average just under three posts daily, with the capability to post breaking news. This level of reporting intensity with a small staff in a community the size of Eden Prairie isn’t possible with the lag times and broken business models of traditional print weeklies. That’s why we’ve chosen to deliver hyperlocal news to you mostly online so that you benefit from EPLN shining a light on what we call “the story of us,” delivered in a more timely way than would be possible through the mail. If EPLN didn’t exist, our local news would go largely underreported by larger media outlets. 

Here’s how you can help keep EPLN’s light shining on Eden Prairie:

1. Sign up for a free subscription and forward it to a friend. Our daily or weekly newsletter subscriptions alert you to our latest stories. Readers often search our extensive archive of 2,600 stories when seeking information on which local nonprofits to support or following long-term story arcs like the Noble Hill development controversy.
2. You can also support our advertisers by clicking on their ads and telling them how much you appreciate their support of EPLN when you make a purchase.
3. Soon, we’ll be surveying our readers for the first time since our feasibility study in summer 2020. Please tell us about yourself when you get our survey. It will help us serve you better.
4. Your expertise in community journalism, event coordination, bookkeeping, or IT can make a significant difference. We invite you to join us as a volunteer. If you possess unique skills that could benefit our community, we encourage you to reach out. Discover how you can contribute by exploring our volunteer and paid positions on our website. Your involvement not only supports our mission but also enriches our community.

We are grateful for your support.  We are living in stormy times. If we work together, “EPLN’s light will be not darkened, nor will the clouds return after the rain.”

Steve Schewe has been the publisher and CEO of the Eden Prairie Local News since January of 2022.