A Voice for Syracuse’s South Side

By Jessica Evora and Wendy S. Loughlin

It started in 2005, when Steve Davis asked students in his editing and reporting class to write stories about Syracuse’s South Side. The students eventually published the stories as a tabloid newspaper, and 1,000 copies were circulated throughout the South Side. "The community loved it,” says Davis, associate professor and chair of the newspaper journalism department. “They really responded to it.” 

That response gave rise to Davis’s idea for a community newspaper, created through a collaboration of SU students and faculty and South Side residents. The newspaper became a reality—after years of hard work—with the launch of a web-based publication, The Stand, last summer. A print version of the same name is planned for February. The project is part of Syracuse University’s South Side Initiative, which supports University-community projects that contribute to the revitalization of the South Side, an economically struggling community located directly west of Syracuse University.

The Stand is currently staffed by Davis and a group of SU students, with contributions from community volunteers. Ashley Hanry, who graduated from Newhouse in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in magazine journalism and is currently a graduate student in SU’s School of Education, serves as The Stand’s director, but she attributes most of the paper’s success to Davis. “Creating this project has taken years, and the main driving force is Steve,” she says. “He deserves a ton of the credit.”

Other staff members include roving reporter Bryan Anthony Hood, a graduate student in newspaper, magazine and online journalism; news videographer John Garcia Jr., a graduate student in broadcast journalism; marketing director LaTalia Williams, a graduate student in public relations; and community correspondent coordinator Jordan Storm, a doctoral candidate in the Newhouse School. Participation is open to students from across SU.

The staff is currently working to assemble a core set of volunteers to run and operate The Stand. To that end, they are conducting writing workshops at the South Side Innovation Center, a small-business incubator run by SU’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management. The workshops are designed to teach residents writing, reporting and editing fundamentals so they can contribute content to The Stand. Residents of all ages, from young children to retirees, have attended the workshops. Some residents have also received cameras to create video stories.

Once the paper is financially stable, it will be turned over to the community, and residents will decide what role SU faculty and students might continue to play.

While Davis is happy with the launch of The Stand web site and plans for the print version, he says the real benefits transcend those accomplishments.
  
“There were times when I thought it would never happen— quite a few times—but I learned a lot of lessons from it,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot about the South Side community, and I have some friends that I would not have made in a million years were it not for this project. I have to say it’s the greatest thing I got out of all this. I think that’s the way it always is with journalism, and that’s why I love doing it.”

Jessica Evora is a senior majoring in magazine journalism.