North Shore news organization is growing with help from Google

State of play: The Record will use the $150,000 to add Skokie to its current footprint of Highland Park, Wilmette, Winnetka, Glencoe, Northfield and Kenilworth.

• The three-person staff includes two reporters and a stable of freelancers. Editor-in-chief Joe Coughlin tells Axios the grant will hopefully lead to a larger staff.

Flashback: Coughlin, Megan Bernard and Martin Carlino raised $60,000 through a Kickstarter campaign to start The Record in March 2020 after their former company, 22nd Century Media, folded.

Zoom in: Skokie is a diverse northern suburb of more than 65,000 residents and is often considered a more affordable housing option than some of its North Shore neighbors.

• "Skokie has had a lot of government turmoil in the past few years. They've really been working hard toward electoral reform," Coughlin says about the decision to add the suburb to their coverage. "The way it was going really had people distrusting their local institutions."

• "Local news gets there late instead of getting there to let residents know, 'Hey, this is coming up at your local board meeting. Let's start paying attention,'" Coughlin adds.

Zoom out: Last year, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Strengthening Community Media Act which included $25 million in tax credits for newsrooms and a 120-day waiting period for the sale of newspapers to out-of-state buyers.