2001: A Learning Odyssey, Savannah, GA 2001

Partners:

Savannah Morning News
WSOK-AM

The paper brought together 60 citizens in August 2000 as the first step in its project on Savannah's failing public schools. The 39,000-student district was among the worst in the nation. It had gone through three superintendents in five years, the school board was fighting with the governor over school reform, and six schools were about to be taken over by the state. Yet, the meeting was the first effort to involve citizens in developing strategies for school improvement.

Over the next year, the group would more than double in size and its ideas and actions - boiled down to four basic principals to guide school reform - became the basis for Vision 2010, a project exploring what was needed to make Savannah-Chatham County schools the best in the country within the decade.

Some 35 stories, more than half written by citizens, appeared in a special section in August 2001. The project has now grown beyond a newspaper series. A dozen volunteers are working to help the county's lowest-performing middle school turn around. Other volunteers are working to bring new programs such as a high tech high school to the district. Most significantly, 30 educators, non-profit leaders and business people have formed the Chatham Excellence in Education Foundation to raise the money needed to carry on the work of Vision 2010.

The project won the 2002 Batten Award. The newspaper's owner contributed $10,000 - an amount equal to the prize money - to the Excellence in Education Foundation, to help it meet its $3 million goal.

Contact:

Dan Suwyn
Managing Editor
Savannah Morning News
PO Box 1088, 11 W. Bay St.
Savannah, GA 31402-1088
Phone: (912) 652-0322
Email: dsuwyn@savannahnow.com

Rexanna Lester
Executive Editor
Savannah Morning News
PO Box 1088, 11 W. Bay St.
Savannah, GA 31402-1088
Phone: (912) 652-0300
Email: rexanna@savannahnow.com

Aging Matters, Savannah, GA 1999

Partners:

The Savannah Morning News

The paper published an 11-part series on the issues faced by the region's growing elderly population, beginning in September of 1999 and continuing through the summer of 2000. The coverage became a prime example of unraveling a community's "master narrative."

A Pew-supported survey of 740 Savannah-area residents helped frame the topics for "Aging Matters," along with a series of small focus groups, each with about eight participants. The series explored how and why people age, health and long-term care, legal issues that arise as people age, the political impact of a growing senior population and the financial impact of aging.

Each installment included stories about people who've remained active and involved as they aged and found positive aspects to the process. The series also included resource guides on each issue explored and invited community participation in the conversation. Online message boards and chat rooms, special call-in lines and continued focus groups gave readers outlets to discuss problems and offer solutions.

The series inspired Savannah-area legislators and community groups to take action. After an installment on seniors who are primary caregivers to grandchildren, Savannah's congressmen and state senator inaugurated a series of Saturday morning discussion groups to determine what services government could provide. Stories on nursing home care prompted the city's state representative to introduce legislation requiring higher ratios of nursing home staff per patient. And senior citizens centers, advocacy groups and hospices reported an increase in volunteer help.

The series won the Batten Award in 2000.

Contact:

Dan Suwyn
Managing Editor
Savannah Morning News
PO Box 1088, 11 W. Bay St.
Savannah, GA 31402-1088
Phone: (912) 652-0322
Email: dsuwyn@savannahnow.com

Rexanna Lester
Executive Editor
Savannah Morning News
PO Box 1088, 11 W. Bay St.
Savannah, GA 31402-1088
Phone: (912) 652-0300
Email: rexanna@savannahnow.com

Water. The Power. The Profit. Savannah, GA 2002

Partners:

The Savannah Morning News, Savannahnow.com
Georgia Public Radio

With the Georgia legislature expected to set statewide water policy in its 2003 session, the partners launched "Water: The Power. The Profit," a year-long series on the Savannah River, to encourage citizen participation in the debate.

A poll of 724 people in the seven counties around the river conducted in April and May of 2002 showed few of the residents had begun to focus on water resources and had little knowledge of the issues surrounding water availability and its impact on development and the regional economy. The Morning News launched its four-part series on Saturday, June 8, 2002, laying out the issues and inviting participation in a July 16 town hall forum. More than 60 people attended and agreed that the region needs to monitor better how much water its uses and that water management should be regional, rather than done at the state or local level. There was also an across the spectrum fear of Atlanta's appetite for water and its possible reach into the Savannah River. The paper continued periodic packages on water issues, leading up to an October forum in which 35 people discussed regional water management issues.

Online, Savannahnow.com offered a "water use calculator" that allowed users to figure out how much water they use and to compare their use with that of users in Chatham or Effingham Counties. The Web site also solicited feedback on the series and provided links to other resources and a sign-up form for the public forums.

With its goal of amplifying citizen voices in the 2003 legislative debate, the project was set to wrap up in the spring of 2003 with a final poll to study the impact of the series itself on how much respondents knew about water resource issues.

Contact:

Dan Suwyn
Managing Editor
Savannah Morning News
PO Box 1088
Savannah, GA 31402-1088
Phone: (912) 652-0322
Email: dsuwyn@savannahnow.com