America's Newspapers forms foundation to promote initiatives for local newspapers

The officers and directors of the new America's Newspapers Foundation held their first meeting last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with bylaws being formally approved and its mission laid out: to support and promote initiatives for local newspapers. The initiatives will provide needed training, assets and best practices to newspaper owners, managers and staffs, helping to ensure that newspapers remain a vital part of their local communities.

Officers and directors are:

• President: Chris Reen, president and CEO, Clarity Media Group
• Vice President: Alan Fisco, president and CFO, The Seattle Times Company
• Treasurer: Judi Terzotis, president and publisher, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
• Director: P.J. Browning, president and publisher, The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, and chair of the SNPA Foundation Board of Trustees
• Director: Joyce McCullough, former president, Miller Group Media, and president of the Inland Press Foundation
• Director: Tim Prince, senior vice president, Boone Newsmedia, Inc.
• Director: Tom Yunt, board member, The Delphos Herald, Inc.
• Secretary: Dean Ridings, CEO, America's Newspapers

During a meeting of the America's Newspapers board of directors held in Dallas in April, Cameron Nutting Williams, president of America's Newspapers and regional publisher and chief revenue officer of Ogden Newspapers, said she believes that forming the Foundation will have the greatest long-term impact on the success of America's Newspapers.  Reen said at last week's meeting of the new board that he "believes that clearly is the case."

The Foundation will work in partnership with the association, much like SNPA and the SNPA Foundation and the Inland Press Association and its foundation. Reen said that both the SNPA and Inland foundations are still significant and needed supporters of America’s Newspapers, as we couldn’t do what we’re doing without their support.

He said the Foundation will provide financial support to America's Newspapers — supporting and promoting initiatives for the "improvement and betterment of local newspapers, helping to ensure that newspapers remain a sustainable part of their local communities."

He said the Foundation will give America's Newspapers the ability to plan for the future, will help grow resources for members and give America's Newspapers the ability to attract new revenue through grants — while enabling families and individuals who contribute to the Foundation to receive associated tax advantages.

"By it's very nature," he said, "the leadership of this group will be focused on [America's Newspapers'] mission and the stewardship of resources intended to further these closely held values."

Learn more about the America's Newspapers Foundation at https://newspapersfoundation.org/