With the death in 2021 of the Southwest Journal, one of the most authoritative and established of Minneapolis’ neighborhood newspapers, a whole swath of the city found itself without hyperlocal news or a space to talk about issues. Into the breach in 2021 stepped Charlie Rybak (maybe you know his dad), with a website and a mission to build a “unifying space” to heal the divisions of the recent past. His goal is not to calibrate to a middle ground but to share divergent voices. The business model is still a work in progress; the loss of ad revenue sunk his predecessor, and a subscription model is a tough nut to crack. He’s thinking maybe events might pay some bills. He already knows education coverage is a winner—nothing sells like public school news in neighborhoods. His Southwest Voices e-newsletter has a 70% open rate, and he believes things will fall in place “once we earn people’s trust.”

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