About

The New York Groove makes independent, journalist-owned, member-supported ace reporting on New York City. Weekly issues for now. Brought to you by Tim Donnelly, Virginia K. Smith and Dave Colon; web development by Melton Sharpe. Logo design and art by Eric W. Lee.

Who we are, and why we’re doing this

We’re a group of longtime New York City journalists and we’re building an independent journalist-owned newsroom from the ground up.

For more than a decade, we’ve watched countless local outlets fold altogether or wither away into shadows of their former selves, even when New Yorkers needed information and community the most. (We’ve also worked at a lot of them while all this was going down.) Our city deserves better; New Yorkers deserve more.

We want to create a site, and a community, that people can turn to when they need help navigating this big beautiful mess of a city. Somewhere they can trust for service journalism that will show them how to get and give help, and a place they’ll turn to when they want reminders that fun is a core New York City value.

New York Groove will have an overall mission of making our readers better New Yorkers in every way that phrase implies. We’ll highlight service journalism, mutual aid, explainers, labor movements, can’t-miss events, and more features pushing back on the idea that only an elite few have the power to shape the future of this city. We know people are feeling lonely and disconnected after the pandemic, and frustrated at how institutions let us down over the past few years. In short, we’re building a newsroom designed to help New Yorkers become more engaged with the city around them, not merely enraged with it.

Of course, there’s plenty of room for both. As New York City patriots, we love our city and are therefore fueled to point out its flaws and bullshit that floods its decision making, and to refute the cynics who think better things aren’t possible. On the flip side, we also reject the constant refrain that the city is dead, or dying, or "used to be better and cooler, right before you got here."

This community-supported publication will give back to our backers by demystifying how the inner workings of this complicated metropolis operate. For every dollar that finds The Groove, we’ll repay it with the kind of reporting and service journalism that’s been missing from the media landscape for years. That means we’ll have humor and irreverence but also fresh voices that match our city and challenge standard thinking. We’ll emphasize the humanity of regular New Yorkers, because we believe that the average person on the street usually has something more interesting to say than a wonk, celebrity or over-quoted public figure.

We’re asking for your help, and need your money

We’re also figuring this out as we go along. (None of us is coming into this as a media mogul – we think this is a good thing!) We want to be transparent with our readers and our community at every step of the process of building a new local media outlet from the ground up in 2023. We’re starting small, yes, but we want to grow this into something big, something sustainable. And we want you with us while we do it.

We also need you with us. To say the quiet part loud: we need your money. We want to grow this little operation into something larger and long-lasting, into a newsroom that’s able to commission writing from all the different voices that make the city what it is, and to pay them fair rates for their work. We will not ask people to write for “exposure,” nor rely on the largesse of any one mega-rich benefactor who can change or shut down our reporting based on a whim or a notion that AI could do all of this for us.

In order to truly support our readers, we need to be reader-supported. “How can I give you piles of money right now,” you ask? Great question, love that energy. You can do it right here.

Our content is free but we're building out a membership program because you are an important part of  The Groove. Paid Members will get access to bonus content, behind-the-scenes peeks, sweet merch, commenting privileges, access to events and more. Most importantly, you're saying you want more independent local journalism in New York City.

Why 'The New York Groove'?

And as for our name, The New York Groove. Yes, it’s an homage to an incredible glam rock song — and also the song the Mets play when they actually win a home game (LGM).

The Groove is also something bigger than that: it summons the intangible spirit of the city you need to lock into to survive and thrive here. It is the “why” that answers all the questions about why people continue to live here, despite the rent and the trash on the sidewalks and piercing sirens and the rise of $20 cocktails. It’s a dance party in the summer rain, it’s the five different languages on your train car, it’s the community fridges filled by local restaurants, it’s the little nod you do when squeezing by someone in a crowded grocery store aisle, it's leaving your house exactly on time to catch the bus without looking at the clock. It takes effort to be here. So baby, you’d better believe.

-NYG

Tell us what you want to see on the site! tips@nygroove.nyc