Windy City Times is a Chicago news organization devoted to being a voice for the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Their primary goal during the Accelerator was to increase subscriptions to the publication’s newly-launched Chicago Social Butterflies newsletter, and in turn, create more opportunities to generate advertising revenue. Through the Accelerator, Windy City Times went from having a young and relatively untested product to building a strong base of support.
subscribers by the end of the program (up from 200 at the start)
newsletter open rate
Instagram followers after beginning the account from scratch
Windy City Times knew it had a novel idea: to create a newsletter that would serve as a one-stop shop for events in Chicago’s LGBTQ+ communities. Windy City Times graduated from the program with an expanded digital operation.
The Accelerator allowed Windy City Times to see the value of its newsletter as a means of reaching potential subscribers in addition to facilitating a greater sense of unity among the LGBTQ+ community. As a result of the Chicago Social Butterflies newsletter success, Windy City Times is now looking to revive its sister publications, En La Vida and BlackLines, as newsletters focused on Latin and Black queer communities.
The Local News Accelerator program pushed the Windy City Times team to aim high in setting our goals. In doing so, we realized we can accomplish even our most lofty ambitions. Breaking down our long-term vision for Windy City Times into two-week 'sprints' with regular check-ins made our goals more manageable, ensured we were consistently making progress and brought a sense of accountability to make sure we were always moving forward.
Jake Wittich, Windy City Times Managing Editor
Personally, participating in the Local News Accelerator program gave me a newfound sense of confidence in my career as I learned how to best tell my story and the story of our publication. The regular training sessions from Northwestern and Blue Engine assured me I was moving forward at Windy City Times with our industry's best practices. And learning from other newsrooms about what they are doing and receiving feedback from them was valuable insight. Throughout the program, I also came to realize I indeed am a newsroom leader, and I shouldn't be afraid to claim that role.
Jake Wittich, Windy City Times Managing Editor