To Marblehead Independent readers:
Happy New Year!
When I started The Marblehead Independent on Sept. 15, I wanted to build something simple: Keep Marblehead informed with daily, independent reporting that shows up for accountability, community life and with long memory. I couldn't have done it alone.
Before we published a single story, several households stepped forward and joined the Founders Circle. Today, that has reached 64 households. One-time contributors gave what they could. Our earliest sponsors include ALTOVA, Marblehead Children’s Center, All Computers Great and Small, Lighthouse Fitness Studio and Carol Kent Yacht Charters International. In total, 121 readers and households — including many couples and families giving jointly — have contributed $40,110 because you believe Marblehead's civic life, its government, schools, history and shared spaces deserve sustained, careful reporting. That trust humbles me, and I don't take it lightly.
Through leveraging a modern tech stack, the newsroom runs on roughly $80,000 a year, with 95 percent going directly to reporting — daily meeting coverage, document-based stories, community features and the local history that gives present-day decisions their proper context.
Now the Independent needs fuel to keep going. Sixty-nine households sustain the newsroom day to day through recurring memberships. They've decided, either through monthly or annual recurring contributions, that this reporting should continue and remain free for everyone.
If you value this reporting, now is the moment to help keep it going. Please join your neighbors by becoming a member today. Memberships start at $10 per month or $120 per year: https://tr.ee/Lg0rJ-DCSa
We will be growing and rolling out the Indy Perks program in 2026 whereby members get perks at local stores and museums. Our first perk is offered by the Marblehead Museum, in whose gift shop at 170 Washington St. Independent members get 10 percent off. We endeavor to grow our perk offerings in 2026.
Meanwhile, the newsroom also expanded its contributors. Colleen Connor wrote monthly gardening columns grounded in seasonal reality. Ryan Park documented marine life along Marblehead's coastline through underwater photography. Theresa Milewski contributed plain-language explanations of computer fundamentals. Chris Stevens, former longtime editor of the Marblehead Reporter, joined the Independent family, as did photographer Paula Muller. With the exception of Stevens, all contributors are Marblehead residents.
We've only been around for three and a half months, but the Independent has already published 300 items, including 250 reported stories covering zoning debates, municipal contracts and public forums. We've reported on schools, arts and culture and restored overlooked local history to the public record. Every story has been free to read and shaped by what strengthens Marblehead.
Thank you to everyone who reads and shares content. Thank you to the 1,000 people following our work on Facebook and the 600 newsletter subscribers who open these emails and engage with the reporting. You've made this newsroom part of Marblehead's civic fabric, and that matters more than I can express.
For those who want a deeper dive into what we've accomplished in 2025 and where we're going in 2026, I published a fuller year-in-review report: https://tr.ee/0Q5JIUYhoz
With deep gratitude,
Will Dowd
Founder and editor
The Marblehead Independent