FROM THE BOARD CHAIR: Keeping Sight of Values and Purpose
The Advance is evolving.
By Craig Vasey
CHAIR, FXBG ADVANCE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Advance has done a lot of good work over the past three and a half years. For me, it has been an eye-opening experience, an opportunity to see both how journalism is done and how a start-up non-profit is organized and run. My background as a philosophy professor did not prepare me for either, but it has been a fun experience to work with Marty Davis, Leigh Anne Van Doren, and Adele Uphaus, among others (like Drew Gallagher, Hank Silverberg, Shaun Kenney, Clay Jones, Penny Parrish, Cori Blanch, Bruce Saller, Donnie Johnston, etc.), and contribute to this valuable voice in our community. Friendship, trust, honesty, and cooperation have been central to this work.
We’re at a turning point with the departure of Marty and Adele, but we are not losing sight of our values and our purpose: to provide a home for accountability journalism in this region and to promote civic engagement and responsible discussion of local issues, informing our community so citizens have the information they need to participate in democracy at the local level. The Advance will certainly be going through a transition over the next few months. The Board of Directors is committed to its success, continuing what we’re able to continue (like the New Dominion Podcast) and bringing a new set of voices on, continuing to cover the issues we’ve covered before (transportation, education, healthcare, local politics, the environment) and adding some new ones (such as military and veterans affairs).
Marty’s editorial voice and leadership have brought important coverage and discussions to the community’s attention (the behavior of school boards and boards of supervisors, the availability of healthcare and childcare, attention to climate concerns and the necessity of addressing increasing demands for energy and technology, etc.), and the Advance is proud of what has been accomplished in just a few years. We are confident of being able to continue providing the space for concerned and open-minded discussion of these and more issues in the future.
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