Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Newspaper ownership today comes in all sorts of varieties and structures. There are family-owned papers, papers owned by corporations and hedge funds, cooperative models (see my column about the Sheridan Express in the April magazine), community nonprofit organizations (the Spokane Spokesman-Review, for example), and university nonprofit partnerships (the Columbia Missourian).
Yet another model is when the local chamber of commerce takes over the newspaper, primarily to ensure its continued existence. Earlier this year, the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce purchased The Lexington News, Higginsville Advance, and Santa Fe Times in Alma from Main Street Media. More about that in a future column.
Similarly, the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce bought the 90-year-old Northeast News in 2022 to save it from almost-certain closure. Now published biweekly as a 501(c)(3) by the chamber’s Historic Northeast Media, Inc., the paper has gone from a precarious financial situation to breaking even. The 501(c)(3) has a separate board of directors that oversees the financial operations.
“We have a very encouraging chamber board that has really supported The Northeast News with some sponsorships and taking a hard look at what we were paying for things,” says Bobbi Baker, president and CEO of the chamber. “We’re getting the expenses down to a bare nub, but we’re still not where we need to be.”
Dorri Partain, managing editor of The Northeast News, says the staff has been cut in half, the publication has shifted from weekly to biweekly, and circulation has been reduced from 8,500 to 5,000. (The paper is distributed to 4,000 households; the remaining 1,000 are placed in boxes and racks at local businesses.)
Partain and creative director Bryan Stalder each work 30 to 35 hours per week. Education reporter Daisy Garcia-Montoya is not a regular staff member, but is sponsored by a local nonprofit, Revolucion Educativa. Garcia-Montoya, who interned with the paper in 2020, translates her stories into Spanish and often covers events or topics relating to education and the Hispanic community.
“We’re maintaining all the things we used to do with fewer people, plus producing a newsletter,” Partain says. “The good news is that we’re still dedicated to our community.”
Northeast Kansas City encompasses six neighborhoods − Pendleton Heights, Scarritt Renaissance, Indian Mound, Sheffield, Lykins and Independence Plaza − that flourished in the early 20th century, with stately homes and thriving commercial districts. But the loss of manufacturing jobs, including thousands at the nearby Ford Motor Company and Sheffield Steel assembly plants, left the community economically vulnerable and contributed to decades of decline.
“We went from being a cute little Italian neighborhood to one a little on the edgy side,” Baker says.
Today, the Northeast area has a population of 35,000. Businesses owned by immigrants and refugees now dominate Independence Avenue – the historic backbone of the neighborhood. The Somali Mall features around a dozen stores selling scarves, jewelry, oils and perfumes, pots and pans, and offers arguably the best cell phone repair service in the metro area. Elvira’s Pasteleria & Panaderia, a third-generation business that started in Mexico City, is one of the most famous bakeries in Kansas City.
Along with the Northeast Chamber of Commerce, The Northeast News is the glue that helps bind the community together.
“We feel strongly that the newspaper is very important to these people in such a tight-knit community,” Baker says.
Partain has been a Northeast resident and a reader of The Northeast News for 40 years. She joined the staff 10 years ago, starting in advertising and later moving to customer service. She became managing editor in September 2025.
“The good news is that we’re still publishing a paper and that we are continuing to transition to face several challenges,” she says. “Our partnerships with MPA and UMKC have provided us with interns so we can staff the paper and help develop the journalists of tomorrow. If and when we have the chance to increase our permanent staff, we will have a pool of graduates who could step in based on their experience with us.”
Partain sees a few advantages that go along with the paper’s nonprofit status and chamber involvement. Through the NewsMatch fundraising initiative managed by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), The Northeast News received slightly more than $15,000 in 2025. The paper aggressively solicits tax-deductible donations through a QR code and a direct link at https://northeast-news.fundjournalism.org/donate/.
The chamber can apply for grants on behalf of the paper. Historic Northeast Media recently received a $37,000 grant from Rooted for Change to advance economic mobility in historically underserved communities in the Kansas City metro. Some of these funds were used to sponsor a Northeast Storytellers Workshop on June 20, which I participated in.
The chamber also provides the newspaper with office space, accounting services to manage payroll and accounts payable, and internet service.
While chamber sponsorship may not be a practical solution in every community, it has put The Northeast News on a path toward celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2032.
