CHICAGO — Give the gift of local news this holiday season.
Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom covering the city’s neighborhoods. We started in 2018 and have expanded — thanks to help from our readers.
Block Club’s reporters have written more than 22,000 stories and covered thousands of community meetings and news conferences to keep you informed. We’ve launched an award-winning weekly podcast that highlights good news in the city and partnered with WCIU to launch “On the Block,” bringing our stories to the screen. (It just won an Emmy!)
Our award-winning stories have held powerful officials to account, highlighted corruption, led to federal and state investigations and even changed laws.
We want to keep doing this work and to expand to more neighborhoods so we can tell more stories.
Much of our reporting is funded by readers — which means your support is vital.
Here’s how you can support our nonprofit newsroom for the holidays:
Subscribe Or Buy A Gift Subscription
The single most powerful way you can help Block Club is by subscribing. Your membership will directly fund our nonprofit neighborhood newsroom, allowing us to keep telling the city’s stories — and expand.
You can subscribe for a full year or on a monthly basis. Members get unlimited access to Block Club’s stories, and they can sign up for our twice-weekly neighborhood newsletters.
Plus, it’s only $59 per year to get tons of local news — the type of reporting many other towns and cities no longer have.
Want to gift a subscription for the holidays? A Block Club subscription makes for a perfect present — and it’ll never arrive late!
Click here to gift a subscription!
Donate
Already a member? The next-best way you can help Block Club is through a donation! Every dollar you donate goes directly back into our newsroom, helping fund our reporting. And donations are tax deductible.
Block Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Buy Our Awesome Merch
Block Club sells shirts, totes, hats and even art prints with designs inspired by the city. Plus, we restocked for the holidays, adding new options to our online store.
Trendsetters will want to nab our embroidered name tag sweatshirt and embroidered knit beanie.
You can get one of our Block Club logo baseball caps in a variety of colors, including khaki, navy blue, olive and maroon.
If your closet is already full, you can honor some of Chicago’s most famous animals by getting the Gator Watch 2019 print or Chicago Is for Lovebirds print for your walls.
Nab A Print Of One Of Our Photos
Photographer Colin Boyle’s beautiful photos of Chicago’s neighborhoods can now be ordered as prints!
Colin has hundreds of photos for you to choose from, and they come from every corner of the city. You can get art prints for your wall, coffee mugs, magnets and more.
Click here to check out the photos.
Sign Up For Our Newsletters
Our subscribers get exclusive access to twice-weekly newsletters from our neighborhood reporters. They feature stories about your neighborhood, a letter from your area’s reporter and other perks, like roundups of area events.
Here’s how to sign up for our neighborhood newsletters.
Watch Us On TV
“On The Block,” our half-hour weekly show with WCIU, launched this spring on The U and CW26. It tells community stories with visually rich and longer-form news content, giving viewers television news in a way they’ve never seen before.
“On The Block” airs 7 p.m. Thursdays on The U, 10 a.m. Saturdays on CW26 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays on CW26. Here’s a helpful guide to find the show.
Listen To Our Podcast (And Rate It!)
Block Club’s award-winning weekly podcast, “It’s All Good,” shares all the best news stories from Chicago. Host Jon Hansen interviews reporters and Chicagoans featured in our stories, and he shares news from nonprofits and neighbors.
The podcast has recently expanded beyond good news stories to tackle issues including the migrant crisis, City Hall chaos and why it’s been such a deadly year for Chicago firefighters.
The best part: Listening and sharing our episodes is completely free! You can also help Block Club by rating the podcast.
Listen to “It’s All Good” here.
Sign Up For Free Text Alerts
You can text NEWS to 312-500-7945 to get breaking news sent to your phone for free. We don’t send these out too much, we swear. We only send alerts for big news, and we’ll never wake you up in the middle of the night.
Follow Block Club On Social Media
Follow Block Club on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to get updates on our stories and photos from around Chicago. Sharing our posts also helps more people learn about our work.
Spread The Word
One of the most powerful ways you can help Block Club grow is by spreading the word about our work and our mission!
If you read a story, please share it on social media. If you get our newsletters, forward them to friends and family who might be interested.
This ensures more people learn about our stories and our newsroom’s goal of providing nonpartisan neighborhood news.
Get A Group Subscription
A discounted group account can be paid by a single administrator and offered to multiple people in your organization. It’s an inexpensive way to keep up with what’s happening in your neighborhood and to share a bond with your teammates.
It’s simple to get started. Just click here to fill out a form let us know how many people would like access. We’ll get right back to you with a subscription package and price.
Send In News Tips
Know of a new business in your area? Have an amazing neighbor who hasn’t gotten enough attention?
Email your story tip to newsroom@BlockClubChi.org. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to cover every story, but your tips help us stay informed on neighborhood news!
Help Block Club Get
500 More Subscribers!
Subscribe to Block Club now and you’ll get a free 16-by-20-inch Chicago neighborhood print of your choice, helping us reach our goal of getting 500 more subscribers before 2024. Click here to subscribe or click here to gift a subscription.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
