Happy new year, Daily Yonder readers!
As noted in our Year in Review, 2021—while undeniably tumultuous for all of us—was a productive year at the Daily Yonder. We expanded our newsroom’s capacity, pursued ambitious audio and video projects, and published some really neat stuff, all because of support from donors and readers like you.
Thanks to you:
- We continued to publish at a higher volume, handily clearing 600 stories in 2021.
- Our new Rural Reporting Fellowship picked up speed and 2021 saw eight fellows pass through our newsroom.
- In partnership with the Public News Service, we launched a weekly radio newscast for rural America. More than 1,700 radio stations in 45 states have aired episodes of The Yonder Report; and the show has been downloaded and listened to more than 15,000 times on popular podcast services.
- We brought on new columnists, contributors and staff—increasing our capacity and the breadth of stories on our website.
- Although none of us imagined we’d be publishing weekly coronavirus reports straight through 2021, we carried on: analyzing data on rural infections, deaths, and, later in the year, vaccinations.
- We made it to Instagram. The Daily Yonder may not be on the cutting edge of social media trends (or are you hoping for a Yonder TikTok account in 2022?) but we’re excited to continue to reach new audiences on new platforms. Great rural photography is always a plus, too.
- Perhaps most importantly, we reached more people than ever before, providing essential rural reporting and storytelling to a growing national audience.
As 2021 comes to a close and a new year gets underway, we wanted to say thank you. Thanks for reading and for supporting the Daily Yonder. Your contributions made the important work we did this year possible, and position us for an even stronger year ahead.
While last week marked the end of our annual fundraising campaign, you can still support our work by making a donation (or buying Daily Yonder merchandise) year round.
Best wishes from all of us to each and every one of you. Here’s to 2022!