Beyond the Headlines is our twice-weekly newsletter connecting subscribers directly to our journalists. We add context to major stories, go behind-the-scenes, highlight great work from other local outlets or provide more informal snapshots of our community.
Last week, I bumped into a reader at a coffee shop. The person sitting beside me saw my Charlottesville Tomorrow sticker and told me that they subscribe to this newsletter. It was the sort of moment I cherish as community editor.
Our reporting is guided by our impact in the central Virginia communities we serve, and we invest in hearing from you. We appreciate every time you share how our reporting and informational guides affect you, and what you need in local news as we grow. So as we review our successes and challenges in 2025, we wanted to share some of what we learned. Here are a few stories we got the most feedback on this year.
If you have anything you’d like to share about our reporting this year, please get in touch. And, if you want to talk, sign up to grab a coffee with me in 2026. I’ll bring a sticker for you too.
Thanks for reading, and see you around town!
Atlee Webber, Community Editor
Charlottesville and Albemarle County Housing Resources Guide
Advocates and housing agencies told us they use the guide to assist clients and navigate a complex web of services. And we shared the guide directly with people in housing crisis who contacted Charlottesville Tomorrow for resources and information.The guide is available online and in print in five languages. We’ve distributed over 3,000 printed versions in English, Spanish, Arabic, Pashto and Farsi/Dari to 32 community organizations.
After years of struggling, seniors at Midway Manor get refreshed living space
In 2021, Charlottesville Tomorrow reported on the building’s hazardous living conditions. Over the last four years, we’ve tracked the progress of improvements. After this March 2025 report, one reader shared, “Thanks to you and Erin O’Hare for staying on the case of Midway Manor. Who knows what’s really going on behind the scenes? But without reporters and local news, we would live in perpetual darkness.”
Historic Rosenwald school in Albemarle County gets new life as a community center while preserving its past
The Rosenwald School Building Program was a collaboration of Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald and funded schools for Black students in the rural South from 1912 to 1932. This year, community members and alumni worked together to restore and convert the former St. John Elementary School building into a community center.
Readers reached out to share their appreciation, calling the report a “great story about a small victory.” One reader said, “These articles give me such hope, especially in this age of attempted erasure. Thank you.” Another reached out to learn more about a potential family connection.
How Charlottesville Tomorrow is reporting on changes in the federal government
Much of our reporting this year focused on how unprecedented changes to the federal government affect our region’s residents and institutions, including cuts to funding for education, public safety, health and housing as well as the impact of the Trump administration on the University of Virginia.
To Trump, the Federal Executive Institute was ‘serving the Federal bureaucracy.’ Here’s what it was to someone who helped run it
In a First Person piece, Charley Burton, described what the closure of the Federal Executive Institute meant to him. We got a lot of feedback about how the story highlighted an under-reported point of view. “I was really struck and moved by Charlie Burton’s story,” one reader wrote. “You never ever hear stories from the perspective of the guy running the janitorial crew at an institution, and it is such an important and such an interesting story and a worthwhile perspective, and I was just bowled over reading it.”
Charlottesville violence prevention group lost a lot of funding. They worry that it might be the end of them
Among many other reports in our coverage of the Trump administration’s local impact, one about cuts to funding for the Central Virginia Violence Interrupters struck a chord. A community member said: “This is really stellar. So thankful this story is out there, and it looks like you spoke with so many key people. It makes such a clear case for the local impact of the federal funding cuts.”
Many readers contacted us about our reporting on threats to SNAP, the federal food assistance program, and the increase in food insecurity in our region. In response to our October 28 newsletter about the federal shutdown straining the local food network, over 30 readers took action to support local organizations combating hunger. Despite federal spending cuts, some groups formed partnerships to maximize impact. In September, the Orange County Free Clinic and Blue Ridge Area Food Bank joined forces to combat food insecurity.
