Publisher's Note: Gorge News to shape a younger mind

Then, we had 9/11 and the economy dropped. The news industry was once again hit with difficult times, including layoffs as businesses everywhere tried to regain their footing. The program could no longer be subsidized.

The Dalles Chronicle continued to deliver through the end of funds, but could no longer support the position, marketing and curriculum development around the program.

Next month, Hood River elementary schools will be starting the program by receiving newspapers in the classrooms. Screen time is at an all-time high. If you have children in school, you realize the tablets, phones and gaming add up. The newspaper will be piloted in classrooms as a living textbook for children.

Sending the newspaper to classrooms is incredibly exciting and I can hardly contain my enthusiasm for this endeavor. From letters, to numbers, crosswords and sports, the local news can be used for a curriculum that includes the basics of reading, math, writing, science and history. It is all in the newspaper every single week.

Gorge News also pays to publish the Kid Scoop activity feature each week. It has education standard activities included on the feature, plus a place for parents and teaches to download more ideas for learning at www.kidscoop.com.

We are currently working with two sports interns at Hood River Valley High School: Davina St. Clair and Seattle Stayer. They write and take photos of local sports. Most students attend games anyway, and this gives them a fun way to be involved. And this is open to any of our area high school students.

In addition, we work with local classroom who want to produce their own version of a newspaper. A newsletter can be a newspaper for a classroom. I remember in the days of Hood River News when we produced a newspaper for a fourth-grade classroom in White Salmon. Mrs. Williams had us come for a couple of weeks to discuss and learn the role of a newspaper and by the end of the visits they had a newspaper ready to print. We printed it at Hood River press. It was amazing with news, opinion, ads and comics.

We visit classrooms all over the area when they want to learn about journalism.  I will be traveling to a school in Goldendale next month to visit a middle school. We visit a high school writing class in Hood River annually to discuss the AI, big tech and the first amendment. It is an engaging conversation with a smart group of students.

These efforts are a program that costs thousands per year.  It’s not only newspapers, but staff time and the costs of coverage and curriculum we include specifically for young people.

I am working on ways to fund the program, including the plan to eventually have a nonprofit arm of Gorge News to help support our education and community outreach efforts. But we are about 6-12 months away from that being finalized.

In the meantime, we have a donation tab on our website. This is not tax deductible, but an easy way to help us fund these efforts: www.columbiagorgenews.com/donate

If you are interested in a larger donation, I can work with our state newspaper organization, Oregon Newspaper Foundation, to make a check tax-deductible. Please contact me for this option directly, Chelseam@gorgenews.com, or 541-386-1234, ext. 100.

Thank you for supporting local news for all ages.