First look at The Green Line's website
TheGreenLine.TO is officially live — check it out and spread the word!
Editor’s note: I was recently notified that due to a major Substack bug, this newsletter edition wasn’t delivered to your inboxes on April 3, 2022, when it was published, which is why you’re receiving it now.
Hey y’all! Anita here. As many of you know, my new independent hyperlocal news outlet launched this past Friday, April 1! The Green Line investigates the way we live to help young and other underserved Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city. 💚
We’re officially unveiling our full website at TheGreenLine.TO, and it'd mean a lot to me if you’d consider amplifying our launch (thank you!). Here are social posts you can copy and paste for ease of sharing:
Twitter (two tweets)
📣 @TheGreenLineTO — a new Toronto-based, community-driven media outlet that investigates the way we live to help young Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city — launches today! Check it out at TheGreenLine.TO. 🚦
Be sure to follow Toronto's only independent, hyperlocal news outlet dedicated to serving gen Zs, millennials and other underrepresented communities. #TheGreenLineTO #YourToronto
📣 @TheGreenLineTO — a new Toronto-based, community-driven media outlet that investigates the way we live to help young Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city —launches today!
Check it out at TheGreenLine.TO. 🚦
Be sure to follow Toronto's only independent, hyperlocal news outlet dedicated to serving gen Zs, millennials and other underrepresented communities. #TheGreenLineTO #YourToronto
LinkedIn
📣 The Green Line — a new Toronto-based, community-driven media outlet that investigates the way we live to help young Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city —launches today!
Check it out at TheGreenLine.TO. 🚦
Be sure to follow Toronto's only independent, hyperlocal news outlet dedicated to serving gen Zs, millennials and other underrepresented communities. #TheGreenLineTO #YourToronto
Instagram (share with a Green Line photo from the media assets folder, below)
📣 @TheGreenLineTO — a new Toronto-based, community-driven media outlet that investigates the way we live to help young Torontonians survive and thrive in a rapidly changing city —launches today!
Check it out at TheGreenLine.TO. 🚦
Be sure to follow Toronto's only independent, hyperlocal news outlet dedicated to serving gen Zs, millennials and other underrepresented communities. #TheGreenLineTO #YourToronto
📣 @GreenLineTO launches today! Check out Toronto's indie, hyperlocal outlet for gen Zs, millennials & underrepresented groups at TheGreenLine.TO.
Click here to download The Green Line media assets
I'm so grateful for the support we've received pre-launch from my industry but more importantly, the communities we serve through our public-service journalism. Last month, The Canadian Press published an article about The Green Line that was syndicated in newspapers across Canada, and I've also been invited to speak about TGL's unique editorial model — our Action Journey — at the International Journalism Festival in Italy next week.
My incredible team and I started developing The Green Line back in the earliest days of the pandemic, but my journey to this moment really started way back when I started working professionally as a newbie 14-year-old journalist.
I created The Green Line for kid Anita, that born-and-bred Scarborough girl who grew up near McCowan and Finch feeling disconnected from the rest of Toronto, but who also had a lot of pride in who she was and where she came from. Growing up, I often made the long trek downtown — the symbolic centre of Toronto — by taking the 129 bus near my childhood home to the RT, before transferring to Kennedy and heading west on the green line for school, work and play. There are a lot of kids like that across this city. Some of them come from Rexdale, others from Willowdale. But all of us share the same deep connection to the places that shaped who we are today.
Help us redefine Toronto through the way we live and the stories we tell. Here's how you can join The Green Line movement:
How can I support The Green Line?
Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Twitch.
Pay for a membership to The Green Line.
Share our stories and other posts from The Green Line’s social media accounts.
Tell your family, friends and network to do all of the above (if you don’t mind!).
Much love and many thanks,
Anita
You’re invited to The Green Line’s launch event
You are warmly invited to The Green Line's virtual launch event on Thursday, April 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. ET.
The focus of this unique event will be COVID re-entry in Toronto. Our goal is to crowdsource and surface solutions from community members and reflect them back to the public, so that they can take action on the problem in a way that resonates most with them. The first part of the event will involve a panel discussion featuring the reporter, sources from the story and industry leaders. The second part will involve a facilitated discussion with the broader attendees.
Please RSVP via our official event link where you can find more information about our panellists. You can also read the story that we'll be discussing as part of the event, here. After you register, you'll receive a confirmation email that will tell you how to join the event. I hope to see you there!
Quick and clean
“In my community” and “Cool stuff I like” will return…
Check out the Associated Press’ “Artificial Intelligence in Local News,” a survey of U.S. newsrooms’ AI readiness. On April 28, I’ll be hosting "Automating for Engagement, Writing and Classification," which is part of AP’s Local News AI program, The Readiness Workshops.
I highly recommend watching Abbott Elementary, a layered and hilarious mockumentary sitcom series that follows a group of dedicated teachers at a Philadelphia public school who are committed to helping their students succeed in life. Creator and star Quinta Brunson is a straight-up genius.
I’m excited to share that I’m one of 100 entrepreneurs across Canada to be accepted into the BANFF Spark Accelerator for Women in the Business of Media!
How you can support The Other Wave
My professional mission has always been to support the global movement towards more thoughtful, impactful news coverage, and all the ways that manifests. If The Other Wave gets you to think even a little differently about journalism, especially in Canada, then I will have accomplished what I set out to do. And if TOW gets you to take action and support Canadian media outlets — especially ones that strive to be innovative and inclusive — I will have exceeded my expectations.
If my values and goals resonate with you, please consider supporting fiercely independent media analysis that fills in gaps in coverage of the Canadian journalism landscape. How? Feel free to provide feedback, pass along resources, donate money or simply share this newsletter with your friends.