By now, you may have noticed that Pittsburgh City Paper has launched a Membership Program in the wake of what has happened in the economy since the coronavirus has started affecting our side of the state. A program we were hoping to launch later this year to help build up the City Paper connection to the readers and try new projects has now become an imperative business sustaining effort.

In the last two days since launch, we have seen an amazing outpour of support that has quite literally brought a lot of us to tears, and the testimonials that have refueled our editorial staff’s souls while they continuously write and update on a topic that is, well, it’s just not fun and has few positive affirmations at this point. You know the anxiety you are feeling about the unknown? Imagine being a journalist having to dissect every piece of this unknown to keep us, the public, informed. Despite the gloom, they still write on and continue to show a guiding light through all of this: the survivors in our economy, the restaurants that have acted quickly to evolve (some even delivering their wine, thank you), our cultural district that is finding ways to still have arts to fill our hearts from home, our musicians giving us live performances, supporting each other and their promoters working tirelessly to reschedule and refund shows, and all of our learning institutes that are providing tours and guides to keep us sane and learning while quarantined. All of these little pieces of good in our community being highlighted by our staff to help these businesses and non-profits continue to connect with Pittsburgh giving everyone a fighting chance. With all of those stories, we continue to stay on top of real-time reporting of what is going on in Allegheny County from the health and updates standpoint giving our readers resources and helping to outweigh misinformation.

New to the team his year, I constantly feel lucky. Lucky to stand behind the Pittsburgh City Paper brand and what it means to this community — standing behind diversity, arts and culture, real news, free information, the alternative. Lucky to work with amazing people, our unwavering editorial staff, our amazingly creative production group, and the kick ass sales and events team I manage day to day. We all take our mission to inform seriously even though we may joke quite often. We are just getting started this year and support from the community means everything so we can continue our growth as a publication, our growing presence in event space and continuing to help advertisers reach clients in a space they love to read. We are asking you to help give us the fighting chance we need.

Launching our public memberships is a great start, but if we are going to make a difference and survive, this is the part where we have to ask the businesses of Pittsburgh that support and stand behind us, to commit to us. To further our campaign, we have launched business memberships; committing to any one of these memberships is committing to the future of the Pittsburgh City Paper. As a community resource that is free both in print and digital, we want to make sure we are available to anyone no matter their background, race, views, or situation through all of Pittsburgh’s moments — the good, the bad, and the coronavirus — and money is what allows us to make that happen. We understand that resources at the moment may not be available and that’s OK; think of us and these memberships when better times come. However, if your business is in a place where it can become a supporter of the Pittsburgh City Paper and its staff and journalism, please consider one of these memberships.

To be connected to a member of our staff to discuss signing up for one of these membership levels, please email [email protected].

$5,000 The Barge Sponsorship Level

Anytime you look over a river in Pittsburgh, you are 64% likely to see a barge creeping down the river. How do we know? Well, we happen to keep a #BargeWatch in our office and a special gong is rang every time a barge passes our windows along Smithfield Street, so trust us. The barge is an important resource, a foundation if you will, transporting important goods to their destination. They may be a small part of our world, but they make a big impact.

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• Your business name will be listed as a supporter of the Pittsburgh City Paper in print and online weekly
• Private annual event with CITY PAPER Staff including dinner and drinks

$10,000 Three Rivers Sponsorship Level

The three rivers in Pittsburgh flow into one another representing a connected city much like the City Paper bringing people together with shared interests. Like the defining rivers of the city, the Pittsburgh City Paper defines the city with coverage on arts and culture, news, viewpoints, diversity, food and drink, music, and more. It wouldn’t be Pittsburgh without its rivers, and we wouldn’t be us without special businesses like you.

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$25,000 Pittsburgh Bridges Sponsorship Level

Pittsburgh is defined by its bridges, all 440+ throughout the city. Much like the bridges, the Pittsburgh City Paper continues to strive to bring together all walks of lives, telling stories, and updating news and events from all different parts of the city and its diverse population. A commitment to help us bridge the gap in coverage is a commitment to a stronger, more informed and diversely strong Pittsburgh.

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Membership lasts for 12 months from start date. Membership payment plans include payment in full on start date or two payments, one in the beginning and another at 6 months. We will work with your company to disperse membership items throughout the year and verbiage and placement for listing portions of the sponsorship. Please note that your support of Pittsburgh City Paper's journalism does not constitute a charitable donation and does not qualify for a tax deduction.