I'd never ridden a skateboard before I worked on the latest 91福利 Sound of Us series. Truthfully, I couldn't even tell you the last time I rode a bike. High school, maybe?
So what was I doing partnering with the nonprofit Skate Ohio and hanging with skaters in Mansfield, learning not just how to balance on (and fall off of) a board with four wheels, but learning about the resiliency of people and learning a lot about myself in the process?
Why skateboarding? To tell you the truth, I was wondering the same thing. After all, with everything happening in the world, surely, skateboarding can鈥檛 be the topic we鈥檙e choosing to focus on, right? Well, it is. And for good reason.
The Sound of Us is a community journalism initiative that allows us to to tell the stories of Northeast Ohioans in their own voices. The series began on June 24 and runs every Tuesday until the end of July.
So why Skateboarding in Mansfield?
First, these stories give us an opportunity to highlight new audiences in Richland County.
Ideastream serves 22 counties across Northeast Ohio and our engagement efforts include expanding our reach beyond the home bases of Cuyahoga, Summit and Portage counties. One of the goals for our newsroom is to pay special attention to Richland County, and to connect with community members there to tell stories from perspectives we might not hear often.
A series like this helps shift the spotlight from the bigger metropolitan cities like Cleveland and Akron to focus on issues from towns we might not hear from as often. We are putting Richland County鈥檚 stories front and center to show that we are dedicated to telling stories from all across the region, not just the big cities. Richland County has stories that need to be told, and we鈥檙e excited to share them with the rest of the region.
Second, these stories help us share more good news about our communities.
One of the biggest notes of feedback we鈥檝e received from our audience is that people want to hear more good news about their communities. Many are becoming exhausted with the daily string of bad news they hear from media. The continuous stream of negative headlines can lead audience members to stop watching the news altogether, or even worse, translating that fear to their neighbors and community members. When the news only tells you about the bad in your community, you only see your community as bad. Changing the focus to highlight stories of community members overcoming obstacles, helping one another or even learning new hobbies can help repair the damage left by sensationalism and fear. It鈥檚 harder to divide a community when the celebrate what's right about the community.
Third on my list is that these stories can teach us more about one another.
I doubt many skaters are big listeners of public radio (although, I鈥檇 love to be wrong on this). Engaged journalism forces you to stretch outside the bounds of your comfort. This series was harder to produce than others because some people didn鈥檛 quite understand the process and because coordinating travel to Mansfield is a little more complicated than popping over to Parma.
When I spoke to people during the pre-interview process, and I learned a lot about skateboarding, myself and the lives of people well beyond the skate park. I heard people tell stories about persevering through injury, learning from their mistakes and restoring their self-confidence, all through skating.
There鈥檚 a nugget of truth in every story we鈥檙e producing that could apply to anyone鈥檚 life. Being able to find what we have in common, instead of focusing on what makes us different, can make communities stronger.
One of the first lessons I learned as a reporter is that you can make the biggest connection through the littlest acts. As journalists, we can get caught up in the big stories happening at city halls, statehouses, and C-Suite business offices. We get so entranced by the big stories that we can miss everything else. But, sometimes, the little things can matter more. Through this series, I learned that Skate Ohio is doing a lot of good for their community. This series allows us to shine a light on it for those of us who live outside of Richland County.
I interviewed Adam McElroy, one of the founders of Skate Ohio. He started the nonprofit as a podcast to talk about skateboarding. But after seeing a need in his town, he and his partner, B.J. Price, expanded their operations. They started hosting skate nights for teens, restoring dilapidated skate parks, donating skateboards to kids and helping young people make friends and express themselves.
He told me that he wants to give young people in Mansfield options to help take control of their lives.
鈥淲e have to build things that will outlast us,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut that means we have to build people with skills to keep things going.鈥�
So, whether you are a longtime skater or you鈥檝e never touched a skateboard before, I hope you enjoy this series. It's about the people who make up the diverse portrait of Northeast Ohio.
The Cut is featured in 91福利's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
