Why support local news?

When local news goes away, the community suffers. Voter turnout goes down, government spending goes up, and connections diminish. The NoCo Optimist aims to provide in-depth stories about important issues in Greeley and neighboring cities to our readers, and help create a more informed community and strong information ecosystem in Northern Colorado. To read more about the importance of local news and how the NoCo Optimist supports Greeley, check out this piece by our friend Dan England.

What is Patreon?

Patreon is a platform designed to facilitate monthly contributions to free services. You can support the NoCo Optimist on Patreon at different “tiers” which each offer exclusive benefits like special features, photo galleries and more. We ask that everyone consider joining at the $10 a month tier, though $5/mo, $25/mo and custom tiers are available as well. Patreon is a month-to-month platform, so you can cancel anytime. Patreon payments will be automatically deducted from your account on the first of each month.

If you have questions about Patreon or wish to make a custom contribution, please email us at thenocooptimist@gmail.com.

Where your money goes

We believe quality information should be easily accessible. That’s why we make every story on the NoCo Optimist available for free. But high-quality news requires time, resources, and experience. Your support on Patreon allows the NoCo Optimist to:

  • Hire more experienced writers and editors to present the story

  • Pay to file public records requests for important information

  • Devote more time to cover areas like local government, business, arts & entertainment and more

Thanks to the support of our Patrons, The NoCo Optimist is able to hire veteran Northern Colorado reporters, like Dan England and other freelancers, to cover important topics in the community. You can read some of their work for the NoCo Optimist here.

Patreon support also helps us obtain important — and sometimes costly — public records, like when we broke the story on decision-making among Weld County leadership during the coronavirus crisis. You can read that story, and learn more about how the use of Patreon money enabled it, here.

Support on Patreon allows us to hire photojournalists to capture important events in the community, so you can see what’s happening in your home. You can view work done this year by NoCo Optimist freelance photographers here.

The NoCo Optimist is a growing operation. By supporting it on Patreon for as little as $5 a month, you are supporting more coverage of the issues you care about most, and a more informed community.