HELP SAVE THE NORWOOD NEWS!
The Issue
After 38 years of serving The Bronx, Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC), a subsidiary of Montefiore Medical Center, decided to halt publication, both print and online, of its award-winning, nonprofit newspaper, Norwood News, on Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 respectively.
The paper served the North Bronx neighborhoods of Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham Manor & University Heights but endeavored to also cover as much of the wider Bronx as possible, publishing around 1,000 stories per year.
The decision comes at a time when Bronx media outlets are already stretched to capacity, and as federal funding cuts only exacerbate the borough's ongoing problems of poor health, housing affordability, domestic violence, food insecurity, homelessness, mental illness and crime, in addition to violent immigration policy enforcement.
The paper covered a broad range of stories on the environment; business disputes; traffic fatalities and traffic safety; preservation; local treasures; youth safety; consumer issues; various quality-of-life issues impacting residents; daylighting; exhibits; criminal justice; parks equity and parks events; consumer safety and consumer rights; land use; sport; culture; teen, prosecutorial, legal and community responses to gun violence and other types of violence; festivals honoring communities of all kinds; cultural and heritage-related events; women's history; civil rights; opinion; Black History; landmarks; technology; the impact and legacy of Bronx artists and music of all kinds; racism; the Knicks' success; safety; the arts; renovations sex trafficking; development; investigations; restorative justice programs; energy costs; islamophobia; subway safety; fashion; mass shootings; accessibility, Metro North; craftsmanship; street vending; the local impact of government policy; sustainability and green issues to name a few.
Others included stories on religion and religious events; accessibility, school safety; housing; strikes; the Kingsbridge Armory; missing people; the FIFA World Cup; Bronx Day in Albany; community fights to save local schools; various commencement ceremonies; kids events; human rights; vigils; construction; protests; hate crimes; corruption; resilience; education in its various forms; animal welfare; animal cruelty; animal abuse; small businesses, water safety; veterans issues; gang violence; childcare and child safety issues; anti-semitism; love and romance; fun local events; policing; the Croton Water Filtration Plant; disability rights; Bronx Week events and celebrations; legislative battles and landmark legislation; transit; traffic issues; disability pride, land ownership; war, entertainment of all kinds; fraud; ICE activity; bomb threats; transportation; literacy; negligence; workers' rights; police-involved shootings; addiction; pop culture; hostage situations; LGBTQ+ rights; flooding; the courts; rental issues, and the impact of terrorism. (non-exhaustive list)
Our Out & About and Neighborhood Notes features on local, cultural and civic-related events and updates reminded residents of voting deadlines and more. We ran stories on recruitment drives, job fairs and re-entry programs for the formerly-incarcerated. Some stories on construction accidents and building collapses were used in court cases. We broke down policy, highlighted victims' stories, prompted authorities to rescue pets from burned out buildings, and elected officials to get involved to help restore gas to residents, among many other wins.
In efforts to preserve a healthy democracy, we reported without fear or favor on elections, politicians, and candidates from the Democratic center, the Democratic left, Republican and Conservative parties, and on Democratic and Republican presidential and vice presidential Bronx visits. During the 2021 election cycle alone, we profiled or otherwise reported on an unprecedented 35 different political candidates in efforts to ensure fairness: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.
During the same 2021 election cycle, we published at least 85 additional, election-related stories outside of regular, political, non-election-related coverage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85.
Running a nonprofit newspaper is challenging, especially in an area comprising a multilingual population of around 127,686, over 44% of whom, according to DataUSA, were born outside the U.S., over half of whom are unemployed, almost one third of whom fall below the poverty line, and where the annual median household income is $44,354. ($25,000 in Council District 14.) Compounding those challenges are multiple, overlapping political jurisdictions represented by 11 different elected officials at various levels of government, and three different police precincts.
Not for the first time, year-to-date crime spiked in several major categories. From January to August, Norwood News published 44 fire-related stories, 17 stories on car crashes, and 41 stories on various assaults. Montefiore, itself, has written about the importance of social determinants of health. An informed community plays a vital part in that.
The Norwood News team has worked day and night, through weekends, federal holidays and illnesses, during droughts, floods, snow storms, successive heatwaves, rainstorms, and power outages, reporting on their impact on the community and small businesses.
We listened to residents' concerns, celebrated not only the accomplishments of notable academics, Nobel laureates, Grammy winners, war and sports heroes, but also those of the everyday heroes and activists. We ensured during the pandemic that contact telephone numbers were provided to isolating seniors (unfamiliar with QR codes and URLs) to call to obtain information on vaccinations and more.
After various staff cutbacks since 2020, we absorbed the work of departing colleagues, worked harder and longer, doubling our monthly online readership, and sometimes tripling it during election months. We also volunteered in local clean-up efforts as invested community members. Miriam Quiñones has been honored several times for her volunteerism.
By eliminating the Norwood News, older readers not online and children who get the paper at local schools and former residents lose out on keeping up with neighborhood news. We are so sorry we were unable to get to the hundreds of stories we had in the pipeline, the types of stories we really wanted to tell had we just had a little more bandwidth. Read/hear more here, here, here, here and here. Read what elected officials had to say on www.norwoodnews.org. We're asking MPC to reconsider their decision because of the paper's strong and longstanding connection to the community and are respectfully requesting it be saved or sold.
We're so grateful for your support. Please continue to sign and share this petition and help restore local news to the creative, resilient, funny, open-minded, hardworking, forward-thinking, generous people the Norwood News has loyally served for 38 years. (No need to donate but thank you. All we're asking is to sign and share.) Muchas gracias!
David Greene, photojournalist, delivery driver
Miriam Quiñones, photojournalist
Síle Moloney, reporter, editor
662
The Issue
After 38 years of serving The Bronx, Mosholu Preservation Corporation (MPC), a subsidiary of Montefiore Medical Center, decided to halt publication, both print and online, of its award-winning, nonprofit newspaper, Norwood News, on Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 respectively.
The paper served the North Bronx neighborhoods of Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights, Fordham Manor & University Heights but endeavored to also cover as much of the wider Bronx as possible, publishing around 1,000 stories per year.
The decision comes at a time when Bronx media outlets are already stretched to capacity, and as federal funding cuts only exacerbate the borough's ongoing problems of poor health, housing affordability, domestic violence, food insecurity, homelessness, mental illness and crime, in addition to violent immigration policy enforcement.
The paper covered a broad range of stories on the environment; business disputes; traffic fatalities and traffic safety; preservation; local treasures; youth safety; consumer issues; various quality-of-life issues impacting residents; daylighting; exhibits; criminal justice; parks equity and parks events; consumer safety and consumer rights; land use; sport; culture; teen, prosecutorial, legal and community responses to gun violence and other types of violence; festivals honoring communities of all kinds; cultural and heritage-related events; women's history; civil rights; opinion; Black History; landmarks; technology; the impact and legacy of Bronx artists and music of all kinds; racism; the Knicks' success; safety; the arts; renovations sex trafficking; development; investigations; restorative justice programs; energy costs; islamophobia; subway safety; fashion; mass shootings; accessibility, Metro North; craftsmanship; street vending; the local impact of government policy; sustainability and green issues to name a few.
Others included stories on religion and religious events; accessibility, school safety; housing; strikes; the Kingsbridge Armory; missing people; the FIFA World Cup; Bronx Day in Albany; community fights to save local schools; various commencement ceremonies; kids events; human rights; vigils; construction; protests; hate crimes; corruption; resilience; education in its various forms; animal welfare; animal cruelty; animal abuse; small businesses, water safety; veterans issues; gang violence; childcare and child safety issues; anti-semitism; love and romance; fun local events; policing; the Croton Water Filtration Plant; disability rights; Bronx Week events and celebrations; legislative battles and landmark legislation; transit; traffic issues; disability pride, land ownership; war, entertainment of all kinds; fraud; ICE activity; bomb threats; transportation; literacy; negligence; workers' rights; police-involved shootings; addiction; pop culture; hostage situations; LGBTQ+ rights; flooding; the courts; rental issues, and the impact of terrorism. (non-exhaustive list)
Our Out & About and Neighborhood Notes features on local, cultural and civic-related events and updates reminded residents of voting deadlines and more. We ran stories on recruitment drives, job fairs and re-entry programs for the formerly-incarcerated. Some stories on construction accidents and building collapses were used in court cases. We broke down policy, highlighted victims' stories, prompted authorities to rescue pets from burned out buildings, and elected officials to get involved to help restore gas to residents, among many other wins.
In efforts to preserve a healthy democracy, we reported without fear or favor on elections, politicians, and candidates from the Democratic center, the Democratic left, Republican and Conservative parties, and on Democratic and Republican presidential and vice presidential Bronx visits. During the 2021 election cycle alone, we profiled or otherwise reported on an unprecedented 35 different political candidates in efforts to ensure fairness: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35.
During the same 2021 election cycle, we published at least 85 additional, election-related stories outside of regular, political, non-election-related coverage: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85.
Running a nonprofit newspaper is challenging, especially in an area comprising a multilingual population of around 127,686, over 44% of whom, according to DataUSA, were born outside the U.S., over half of whom are unemployed, almost one third of whom fall below the poverty line, and where the annual median household income is $44,354. ($25,000 in Council District 14.) Compounding those challenges are multiple, overlapping political jurisdictions represented by 11 different elected officials at various levels of government, and three different police precincts.
Not for the first time, year-to-date crime spiked in several major categories. From January to August, Norwood News published 44 fire-related stories, 17 stories on car crashes, and 41 stories on various assaults. Montefiore, itself, has written about the importance of social determinants of health. An informed community plays a vital part in that.
The Norwood News team has worked day and night, through weekends, federal holidays and illnesses, during droughts, floods, snow storms, successive heatwaves, rainstorms, and power outages, reporting on their impact on the community and small businesses.
We listened to residents' concerns, celebrated not only the accomplishments of notable academics, Nobel laureates, Grammy winners, war and sports heroes, but also those of the everyday heroes and activists. We ensured during the pandemic that contact telephone numbers were provided to isolating seniors (unfamiliar with QR codes and URLs) to call to obtain information on vaccinations and more.
After various staff cutbacks since 2020, we absorbed the work of departing colleagues, worked harder and longer, doubling our monthly online readership, and sometimes tripling it during election months. We also volunteered in local clean-up efforts as invested community members. Miriam Quiñones has been honored several times for her volunteerism.
By eliminating the Norwood News, older readers not online and children who get the paper at local schools and former residents lose out on keeping up with neighborhood news. We are so sorry we were unable to get to the hundreds of stories we had in the pipeline, the types of stories we really wanted to tell had we just had a little more bandwidth. Read/hear more here, here, here, here and here. Read what elected officials had to say on www.norwoodnews.org. We're asking MPC to reconsider their decision because of the paper's strong and longstanding connection to the community and are respectfully requesting it be saved or sold.
We're so grateful for your support. Please continue to sign and share this petition and help restore local news to the creative, resilient, funny, open-minded, hardworking, forward-thinking, generous people the Norwood News has loyally served for 38 years. (No need to donate but thank you. All we're asking is to sign and share.) Muchas gracias!
David Greene, photojournalist, delivery driver
Miriam Quiñones, photojournalist
Síle Moloney, reporter, editor
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Petition created on July 16, 2026