TribLive is profiling members of the Pittsburgh Media Partnership in this weekly series to spotlight the robust media landscape in Western Pennsylvania.
The Homepage, a monthly published by the Hazelwood Initiative Inc., serves roughly 11,000 households with relevant and hyper-local news coverage.
The publication began as The Hazelwood Homepage before rebranding and dropping “Hazelwood” from the masthead in 2011 to better reflect its entire circulation area.
Since then, The Homepage has remained relevant in its small slice of Pittsburgh, covering the stories that matter to the area they reside in.
The current managing editor and the only full-time employee at the publication, Juliet Martinez, works all month long to get the 16-page paper to the printer on deadline.
“In some ways, I feel like a spider at the center of a web,” she said.
Each month, Martinez enlists the help of volunteer citizen journalists to report on various parts of their coverage area. One covers community meetings and business stories such as new restaurants opening in the area, while another takes photos, all of which helps take some of the load off Martinez.
The Hazelwood Initiative is a community development corporation focused on affordable housing, workforce development and more in Hazelwood. But coverage in The Homepage spans well beyond infrastructure.
Martinez prioritizes community engagement and feedback from readers, both the good and the bad.
“I have some bona fide curmudgeons who will let me know if anything is wrong, and I really value them very much,” Martinez said.
Martinez answered questions posed by TribLive.
Website: hazelwoodinitiative.org/homepage-community-newspaper
Location: Hazelwood
Newsroom size: It’s just me. I have one volunteer citizen journalist … a photojournalist who lives in Greenfield, another citizen journalist who lives in Lincoln Place. I have a bunch of other contributors kind of here and there.
Communities you serve: Greater Hazelwood, Greenfield, Four Mile Run, Hays, Lincoln Place and New Homestead
Established in: 2000
Known for: We do a lot of infrastructure; we’ve got a lot of traffic calming type of issues. We really try to talk about infrastructure from the perspective of what people are saying they need, what people are saying they’re missing.
Who is your core audience, and how do you stay connected to them? People in Hazelwood. I check in with people, I get in touch, and people check in with me.
What makes your coverage different from others in Pennsylvania? We report to and for our circulation area. [Specific topics are] very salient in my circulation area. That’s not a story that is necessarily salient to the whole city or much less the state.
What’s one goal your organization has for the next year? I would like to get more community voice submissions — that’s like our opinions section.
If your newsroom were a TV show, what would it be called? I am kind of envisioning a strange mockumentary, like “The Office,” but with just one person.