Thank you for funding this hyper-local dream
Hey folks,
It's Christina here, with a quick story:
At the top of 2024 — after working six years as a freelance journalist — I decided to search for a full-time job. Like most reporters who’ve spent more than a decade in the field, I yearned for something new. A more creative path. A less stressful work environment. A higher paycheck.
After DCist shuttered in February, Natalie Delgadillo reached out to me. She and some former colleagues were ideating a worker-led media publication, and they were looking for folks to build it … initially, as volunteers. While I empathized with them (I was, after all, laid off by a previous DCist owner) and was curious about the new business model, I couldn’t work for free. Higher paycheck, remember? So I asked Natalie to keep me posted after they raised some funds.
And, thankfully, she did. In August, after surpassing their crowdfunding goal, The 51sters brought me on as a team member to contribute to operations decisions, editorial strategies, and weekly content. I was even able to launch Ask A D.C. Native, a column I’d been percolating on for years.
And you guys, this work has been a dream! I’ve learned that I didn’t need to leave journalism, I just needed to find the right fit for me. At The 51st, I exercise my creative muscles while working collaboratively with highly intelligent, good-natured people and contribute to impactful reporting without that dreadful breaking news burnout.
All this to say, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wouldn’t be living this dream without our donors and sustaining members. So thanks a million to everyone who has contributed — in any way, any amount — to The 51st. It’s gotten us off the ground and we have enough runway to get us through Q1 2025!
At this point, we don’t know if we’ll raise enough money to keep operating after next spring or achieve our goal of becoming fully sustainable by next fall (but you can help us get there!)
For now, we’ll bask in gratitude for the thousands of people who took a chance on a group of laid-off journalists determined to create a publication that’s not only a refreshing place to work but an essential resource for hyper-local coverage of the nation's capital and our home: D.C. Truly, y’all rock!
Thanks for participating in story time.
Take care,
Christina Sturdivant Sani
