Block Club Chicago snaps up neighborhood news fans

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Block Club Chicago

A wayward alligator in the Humboldt Park lagoon — as well as generous grants from three local foundations — are making this a great summer for Block Club Chicago.

On Friday the nonprofit subscription-based digital news site, founded by former editors of DNAinfo Chicago, exceeded 20 million page views since its launch in June 2018. It now boasts more than 8,000 paid subscribers.

“We’re so proud of the support we’ve gotten from our readers and our donors,” editor-in-chief Shamus Toomey told me. “Thanks to both, we can grow our newsroom and bring more neighborhood news coverage to Chicago. We had a fantastic first year. We can’t thank Chicagoans enough for how warmly they’ve embraced Block Club.”

Gator Watch 2019

Block Club's best-read story so far was reporter Mina Bloom's scoop last month on the discovery of a five-foot alligator lurking in the Humboldt Park lagoon on Chicago's West Side. The news set off a media frenzy and garnered nationwide headlines while the city worked to capture the gator.

“We quickly realized the gator had captivated the city," Toomey said. "We worked with a local artist on [“Gator Watch 2019”] shirts and totes, and sold nearly 4,000."

Thousands more participated in Block Club's online poll to name the gator, with Chance the Snapper topping a list that included Frank Lloyd Bite, Ruth Gator Ginsburg and Croc Obama.

By securing foundation funding for three new positions, Block Club recently boosted its newsroom staff to 12 full-time employees:

  • Maple Walker

    Maple Walker, a former journalism and media coordinator at the MacArthur Foundation, was named director of development and community engagement. As the startup's first non-reporter hire, her position is partially funded by a grant from the McCormick Foundation. Walker will work with Block Club’s leadership team to expand its efforts with foundations, individual donors and corporations, as well as to engage with subscribers.

  • Pascal Sabino, former environmental editor for the nonprofit Free Spirit Media, was hired as a reporter to cover the Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park neighborhoods. He’s a Report for America fellow, with additional funding from the Field Foundation.
  • Maxwell Evans, who worked for the State News and the Capital News Service in East Lansing, Michigan, was hired as a reporter to cover Hyde Park, Woodlawn and South Shore. His position is funded by a grant from the Joyce Foundation.

"Local news is so important to us at Block Club Chicago,” Walker said. “Our subscribers share our passion. And we know there are individual donors out there who believe in the power of local journalism and will help us grow and sustain this type of work."

Friday’s comment of the day: Robert Manewith: Thursday's comment from Bob Roberts [formerly] of WBBM-AM News is right on point. We're never going back to the era of "The Front Page," but the competition of five or six newspapers served the public by keeping competitors on their toes and providing an array of opinion. Just consider that Marshall Field started a morning paper to challenge Robert R. McCormick. I read four daily papers until I couldn't anymore, because only two remained. Let's not lose more. And let's keep broadcast news filling that void, even though the attention span of most viewers and listeners — who still watch or hear a newscast — doesn't allow broadcast journalists the time for the depth of reporting so often needed. The more voices the better, the more investigation the better the public is served.

Chance the Snapper