EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — For several months now, Eden Prairie has been without a newspaper.
Now, community members are getting together, hoping to bring back local news coverage.
Eden Prairie News folded back in April during the pandemic. Now a community coalition is fighting for that to change.
"What we're trying to do is really restore a source for reliable local news," said Jenifer Loon, a former state representative and co-chair of the Eden Prairie Local News Committee.
For two months, interested citizens have been meeting weekly to figure out the logistics. They've already settled on a name: Eden Prairie Local News.
"It just says exactly what it is," said Brad Canham, another co-chair of the committee.
The goal is to raise $50,000, which should be enough to cover staffing and publishing costs, according to Loon. So far, they've raised a few thousand dollars through the Eden Prairie Community Foundation.
"We're just getting started, we're hoping people will step forward," Loon said.
Eden Prairie Local News will primarily be online, with the possibility of a print edition. If all goes well, they hope to have their first issue this fall.
Both Loon and fellow co-chair Brad Canham say having a local news source is especially important in the era of social media and fake news.
"It is important to have the truth tellers and the story tellers represented in a community and it's important for a community's identity to have an Eden Prairie local news," Canham said.
Donations to the Eden Prairie Local News can be made here