A naked appeal for cash from RI Future

Last week RI Future demonstrated the power of journalism.

In Cranston, the City Council abandoned a proposed rule that they hoped would have given them discretion over who records their meetings. The issue stemmed from an incident when Council President Michael Farina asked RI Future reporter Steve Ahlquist (me) not to video a meeting.

Meanwhile, in the East Bay, the Bristol/Warren School Committee sent back to its Policy Subcommittee a proposed policy on school lunch debt five days after a RI Future post by Bob Plain highlighted the issue of lunch shaming.

These are only two examples of how the reporting by RI Future drives powerful change – not only at the State House and with the Congressional delegation – but also in cities and towns all across Rhode Island.

But in the end, we’re only two guys with computers covering a state with a million people in it. Sure, we get occasional help from a great cadre of part-time contributors, but when we divide the money we take home by the hours we work, we’re looking at $3.45 an hour in April.

So is this just a shameless plug for $$$ ? Yes it is. We love what we do, and we would do it part time in between third shift dish washing jobs if we had too, but we’re hoping we don’t have to. we’re hoping people reading this post, who have found our site valuable, might contribute some cash to our efforts.

Or you can send us a check to:
RI Future
225 Shady Lea Rd.
North Kingstow, RI 02852

If you’re already contributing, thank you. We love you and we appreciate all you do. If you can’t contribute regularly, or can only come up with a few dollars, that would be great too. Every little bit helps and we are so thankful to have the community’s support for our efforts.

Steve