My name is Nicco Mele, and I've lived in Lexington for 10 years and worked in digital publishing for 20 years. I'm using my decades of fundraising and publishing experience on the national level to support our community on the local level. Local news helps bring communities together and increases accountability; I'm launching LexObserver to grow the existing local news ecosystem in Lexington by bringing deeply reported, digital-first news to residents in the form of a weekly email newsletter. Since we're a nonprofit media startup, your support is crucial to realizing our mission. 

While the monthly Colonial Times offers a platform for community voices and organizations, the Minuteman provides some community coverage, and LexMedia records many public meetings and maintains local TV channels, LexObserver would focus on proactively seeking out answers to residents' questions, publishing regular deep dives, explanatory reporting, and some breaking news. We know there is room for more news in Lexington, because we've been interviewing residents about where they think more coverage is needed since February 2021. This summer and fall, we have concretely demonstrated that we can add value as a unique publication: Even before our official organizational launch, we have provided extensive coverage of Lexington Public Schools' plans for the fall in the midst of COVID and the impacts of pandemic learning on community members, and last month, we started our weekly newsletter covering everything from business closures to the town budget; you can read our published articles and previous newsletter editions here. In the last two weeks alone, our newsletter has more than doubled our email list — almost 700 people now subscribe to our reporting.

We're in the midst of expanding our coverage beyond education to also encompass real estate & economic development and town government — because throughout our community outreach, residents have expressed the most interest in deeper reporting in these three areas. But for us to continue any coverage at all, we need everyone's support to get us off the ground. If we raise $80,000, we can hire one full-time reporter for a year; if we raise $160,000, we'll have a budget for a second reporter, freelancers or an editor. Local news strengthens communities — any contribution you make is a service to Lexington. Please consider supporting us by donating and spreading the word. Thank you so much, and stay tuned as we continue bringing you excellent reporting.