Southpoint Access

Two Years Independent and Still Showing Up for South Durham

As Southpoint Access marks two years as a full-time project, Wes Platt asks South Durham neighbors to help the independent newsroom reach 1,000 subscribers by July 31 and raise $5,000 by Sept. 22.

Two years ago this week, I took the uncertain leap of dedicating myself full-time to the job of informing my South Durham neighbors through Southpoint Access.

I’ve been building a local audience one door at a time.

That feels especially meaningful during Independence Day week, because independence isn’t an abstract idea when you’re trying to build something useful from the ground up.

It’s the freedom to decide that South Durham deserves closer attention. It’s the responsibility of watching government meetings, reading agendas, asking questions, checking records, and trying to make sure neighbors know what’s happening.

Southpoint Access is still young. It’s still scrappy. It’s still me doing a lot of the work by hand. But after two years, it’s also real.

Every week, I’m trying to help neighbors better understand the place where we live: what’s being built, what’s being proposed, what’s changing in our schools, what local government is deciding, which businesses are opening, which events are worth knowing about, and which community stories might otherwise slip past unnoticed.

That work matters to me because South Durham is not just a market, a ZIP code, or a cluster of subdivisions south of downtown. It’s home. It’s where we drive our kids to school, sit in traffic, visit the same grocery stores, worry about development, cheer for new restaurants, walk our dogs, check on neighbors, and try to make sense of what’s changing around us.

I want to pause here and say thank you.

If you’re one of the readers who already pays for a Southpoint Access subscription, you’re helping turn this from a hopeful experiment into a durable neighborhood newsroom.

If you’re one of the sponsors who has put your name, business, or organization behind this work, you’ve helped make it possible for me to keep showing up.

And if you’ve donated to the current fundraiser, you’ve done something very direct and very practical: You’ve helped underwrite independent reporting for South Durham.

I don’t take any of that support for granted.

Every subscription, sponsorship, and donation tells me that someone believes South Durham benefits from having a journalist paying close attention to this part of the community. That matters on the hard days. It matters when the work is slow. It matters when the numbers don’t yet match the effort.

Most of all, it reminds me that Southpoint Access isn't something I’m building alone. Now I’m asking for your help with the next step.

Right now, Southpoint Access has 551 subscribers. That means we need 449 more neighbors to subscribe by July 31 to reach the goal of 1,000.

That’s ambitious, but it’s also ridiculously simple: If every current subscriber helped bring in one more neighbor, we’d be there.

So if you read regularly but haven’t subscribed yet, this would be a great time to join us. If you already subscribe, please consider forwarding this newsletter to a neighbor who cares about South Durham. One forwarded email, one shared post, or one personal recommendation can make a real difference.

I’m also trying to raise $5,000 by Sept. 22, my birthday, to help keep this independent neighborhood newsroom moving - and possibly even expanding to include more reporters. That money will help cover freelance reporting, records requests, tools, expenses, and the practical costs of doing this work with care.

So far, with the help of 10 neighbors, we've raised $441 (or 8.8% of the goal). Thanks very much!

Independent local journalism only stays independent when the community it serves decides it’s worth keeping.

So this Independence Day, I’m grateful for the freedom to keep building Southpoint Access. I’m grateful for everyone who has helped it grow. And I’m hopeful about what we can build together next.

Wes Platt
Neighborhood News Guy

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