I’m Karen Sorensen. I moved to Albany 24 years ago and my husband and I raised our two children here. Our daughters attended Albany schools, from Albany Preschool through Albany High, and over the years we got to know many families through youth soccer, cross country running, choir and more.

I’ve also had a long career as a writer, which began to focus on local history after we moved to Albany. I worked on a history book with the Albany Historical Society for our 2008 centennial, and wrote history articles for The Journal and Albany Patch (when they still featured local reporting). In 2020 I published a second book that expanded our city’s historical stories.

For much of this work, I utilized historical news articles, a vital source of information.

While other sources, like city records, are also important for historical research, it’s the independent news articles that can fully immerse you in the time period and reveal the nuances and bigger picture of our past.

I’ll always remember digging through old news stories that exposed a more complex history about Albany’s incorporation. It was not just about preventing Berkeley from dumping garbage here — the story passed down for years. There was a much bigger problem of bubonic plague and rats attracted to garbage dumps. 

Today, Albany has no news coverage and much of what happens in our city goes unreported. The importance of this loss — for both current and future residents (and future historians) — cannot be overemphasized.

That’s a big reason I joined the Albany News Project, a group of local residents working to "Bring News Back to Albany."

Last week, our effort was bolstered by a new matching pool of up to $11,000. That could help us raise $22,000 by April 30.

Our ask today, in our final week of fundraising: Don't leave matching dollars on the table.

Communities around the country are coming together to restore their local news coverage — they know social media can't preserve our local history. 

Let’s make sure Albany does not leave its news and history behind.

Thank you so much for supporting this important effort,

Karen Sorensen
The Albany News Project

P.S. We have just one week left to meet our $11,000 match and start working to preserve Albany history for generations to come. Thanks for helping.