With pen and paper in hand, and a camera slung over his shoulder, Minnesota journalist Jeff Holmquist sets off on assignment.
Like any good reporter, he's done his research. But unlike other publications he's worked for in his years as a journalist, this time, he's not getting paid.
Holmquist is a volunteer and content editor for Carver County Local News, a nonprofit, digital news source created to fill a local news gap in the southwest Twin Cities metro.
"It's just important," Holmquist said. "If you have a strong kind of newspaper presence, or news presence of some sort on a local level, it keeps the community informed. People know what's going on. They know what to vote for if they have to vote for something."
The Chaska Herald, and eight other local papers under Southwest News Media, printed its last edition mid-2024. Three of the papers have deep histories in their communities. The Chaska Herald was founded in the late 1850s, the Shakopee Valley News in 1861 and the Jordan Independent in 1885.
"When I started, there were a lot of newspapers in communities all across the U.S.," he said. "But over the last 20 years, I think the number is 3,500 newspapers have gone under, including the one in Chaska."
Local newspapers dying off isn't only happening in the southwest metro. According to the latest State of Local News report from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, nearly 40% of local U.S. newspapers have disappeared in recent years, leaving roughly 50 million Americans with limited or no access to local reporting.
Holmquist moved to the area two years ago. Two weeks later, the local paper closed.
"I said, 'OK, maybe this is the reason why I'm here, to help the community relaunch something that would keep the community informed,'" he said.
Carver County Local News, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, launched with about a dozen volunteers. But it took some work to get it off the ground.
The idea gained traction with help from Heather and Khai Tran of A Better Society, a Chanhassen-based nonprofit focused on community collaboration.
"It was a massive gap, and people felt it," said Heather Tran.
After the closures were announced, they connected local leaders, borrowing ideas from a similar digital startup in Eden Prairie.
"What it comes down to is what's happening in our own community. We don't want to lose touch of that," said Khai Tran
The group worked to establish a board, build a website and produce a voter's guide to quickly build credibility during an election year.
"The reporters are doing an amazing job of keeping everything nonpartisan, very fact-based," Khai Tran said. "They're telling both sides."
Former Chaska Mayor Bob Roepke, who served 18 years as mayor and previously wrote for the Chaska Herald, now volunteers with Carver County Local News.
"You need an informed community if you want to be a connected community," Roepke said. "Losing that last local paper was a huge issue."
Roepke said the response has been encouraging, with residents stepping up to write about School District 112, community events and local issues.
"It's really been a rallying point for the community," Roepke said. "It's all about community. It is. I mean, if you believe in the concept that everybody has value, everybody belongs to the community, then projects like this matter."
The nonprofit relies on donations and grants and is seeking additional funding, including through a national initiative called Press Forward, aimed at strengthening local news. Eventually, the hope is Carver County Local News can pay contributors for its work.
"We have a bunch of people who are doing this out of the kindness of their heart for their communities, because they care," Holmquist said.
More than a year in, Carver County Local News continues to build its readership and its mission. Even as the print fades, the community – and comeback — is strong.
Volunteer journalists working to fill Minnesota's local news desert
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