• by Melynda Fuller , April 21, 2020

McClatchy’s Compass Experience is launching its next local news site, this time in Longmont, Colorado, with partner Google News Initiative’s Local Experiment’s Project.

The outlet, funded by GNI, is called The Longmont Leader and will be a digital-only news source set to launch later this spring. The Longmont Leader acquired the assets of community-operated free hyperlocal news website the Longmont Observer, including its email lists, donor lists, archives, URL and social media accounts.

The Longmont Leader’s coverage will focus on local news and events, as well as community columns and citizen journalism created in partnership with Longmont Public Media.

Five jobs, including an editor, business development leader, assistant editor and two reporters, are created as a result of The Longmont Leader’s development. At least one of the reporters will be bilingual in English and Spanish.

“We were drawn to Longmont because we want to help bring together its residents around a shared passion for the city, its people and its local businesses,” Compass Experiment general manager Mandy Jenkins stated.

“But as the city has been growing, local news sources have been shrinking. We intend to build on the great work of the Longmont Observer with a news site that is hyper-focused on all things Longmont. During this challenging time, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, trustworthy local news and information is needed more than ever.”

Jenkins announced the project in a Medium post today.

The Compass Experiment previously launched local news site Mahoning Matters in Youngstown, Ohio.