Greater Govanhill Needs Your Support
In order to better serve the Govanhill community and enable the pursuit of exciting new projects, Greater Govanhill is trying to reach 100 new members by the end of August. Can you help?
The last few months have been an exciting time for Greater Govanhill. The publication has released its third print magazine, held our first live event, rented office space one day a week, and launched a monthly radio show and hired its first ever member of staff. In this time, Greater Govanhill has been able to share more news, events and features than ever before and focus on how best to utilise its platform in order to serve the interests of the local residents. We also just got shortlisted in the Social Enterprise Scotland awards!
From its inception, Greater Govanhill has been dedicated to showcasing everything that makes Govanhill unique and empowering voices within the community. Marzanna Antoniak, a Community Connector at Thriving Places Govanhill reflected on valuable impact the magazine has had since its launch, saying:
“For many years, Govanhill has been affected by negative mainstream media coverage which many local people wanted to challenge as unfair and politicised. From its very first issue, Greater Govanhill has been an incredible asset to our neighbourhood by allowing our residents to speak for themselves and promoting the multitude of valuable local projects and organisations.”
“The magazine not only showcases the best that Govanhill has to offer to outsiders, but it also enables local people to discover the less known aspects of their neighbourhood. It energises and gives a platform to local talent from diverse communities and provides carefully balanced insights into the area.”
Speaking about the impact of the magazine, one reader said:
Often we're wary of uncomfortable about 'the unknowns', be that other cultures, business we're not familiar with, ways of life, and it can be easy to feel that the issues you face are yours alone. The magazine gave an insight in to many of these unknowns, and reminded me that issues we face in this area are being met with love, community spirit and a whole host of amazing people.
Greater Govanhill exists to serve the interests of the community and with this in mind, the publication has a number of exciting developments planned. These include moving to a bi-monthly magazine production schedule, hiring additional staff, paying all of its contributors and offering journalism skills training workshops to local community groups.
In order to continue its work and make progress towards these goals, Greater Govanhill is reliant on the regular financial support provided by its members. It is because of this support that Greater Govanhill has been able to make its printed issues freely available to all members of the community.
With this in mind, the magazine has launched a membership campaign with the aim of increasing its membership base by 100 people. Rhiannon Davies, founder and Editor of Greater Govanhill, explained why the support offered by its members is of such importance to the future of the magazine, saying:
“Since launching the magazine last year, I’ve been blown away by the support from the local community. I want to ensure that this magazine is here to stay, to continue to serve the greater Govanhill community.”
“We have been lucky enough to receive some grant funding and we also make some money from advertising sales. But we want to have a reliable income from engaged readers in order to provide us with a stable base. Our members are people from all over who want to see journalism done differently.”
If you sign up to become a member of Greater Govanhill, you will be among the first to receive future issues of the magazine, which arrive in the post accompanied by exclusive Greater Govanhill merchandise. Members also get free access to events and training workshops and are invited to regular meetings that help shape Greater Govanhill’s content. If you sign up during this campaign period, you will also receive a Greater Govanhill tote bag, stickers, a coaster and your choice of the magazine’s previously published print issues.
Not only that but you are supporting independent community media which strives to be an antidote to the negativity bias which dominates mainstream media and seeks to diversify the media by providing a platform to typically under-represented backgrounds.
You can sign up to become a member of Greater Govanhill and learn more about this membership campaign here. Memberships are available for as little as £3 a month.