Has your organization been featured in the Connection Newspapers, or the Alexandria Gazette Packet or the Mount Vernon Gazette or the Centre View or the Potomac Almanac?

Have any of our papers taken note of your business when you and/or your employees pitch in to help the community? Or when you opened your doors or celebrated a milestone?

Are you an elected official whose messages are enhanced by coverage of issues in the Connection? Do you work for a part of local government that has asked for help getting the word out about a need or a new initiative or accomplishments?

I have a special favor to ask:

Buy an ad in our Newcomers and Community Guide. Please.

Show your support for our organization which continues to be here to support the forces of good in our communities.

Our annual Newcomers and Community Guide is a pullout section that will appear in the the Aug. 24, 2016 edition of all 15 Connection Newspapers, published by Local Media Connection. Deadline is Aug. 17.

We are creating a quality special issue, and we need your help. Whether you invest in a small ad in a single paper (super affordable), or a full page in all 15 of our papers (super value), we appreciate your help this month.

To put on my publisher’s hat (and not my editor’s hat) for a minute, if you have a marketing budget, and you value coverage of local newspapers (not just ours), why wouldn’t you spend a portion of that budget (any portion) supporting that platform? There is a cautionary tale in the abrupt closure a year ago of the chain of local papers that served Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland, as an extreme example.

But it’s more than a charitable effort.

For the same reasons that organizations, businesses and campaigns know they want local newspaper coverage, newspaper advertising is an effective way to reach voters, residents, clients. The Connection reaches more than 200,000 readers, in print and online, including remarkable demographics. Our readers include local and national decision makers in the public and private sector.

According to an independent study during the last presidential campaign, cited by the National Newspaper Association: 86 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last election read newspapers in print or online; 79 percent of voters ages 18 to 34 read newspapers in print or online; 91 percent of voters who contribute to campaigns read newspapers in print or online.

The deadline for the Newcomers and Community Guide is Aug. 17. Digital enhancements and support are available. More information at

email sales@connectionnewspapers.com or call 703-778-9431.

Share Tips about Community

We need help from our readers for our annual Newcomers and Community Guide.

We're hoping to share special places, activities, events, organizations and volunteer opportunities. What should someone new to your neighborhood know about? Events that should not be missed? Organizations that do a great job? Places to volunteer? Tips for navigating your PTA or your school’s front office? A great place to see the sunset? We'd love to have your photos to go along with your suggestions.

What are your favorite parks? Favorite historic sites? What tips do you have for someone getting to know the community?

We will publish a selection of local tips along with a plethora of information useful to newcomers and long-time residents alike, including our award-winning Insiders Guide to the Parks, and information on how to vote and more.

See last year’s community guides by going to www.connectionnewspapers.com/PDFs/ and scrolling down to Newcomers.

Email tips and photos to editors@connectionnewspapers.com or send as a letter to the editor via the website at http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/contact/letter/ by Wednesday, Aug. 17.

— Mary Kimm

mkimm@connectionnewspapers.com