About

The Salida Citizen provides a clearinghouse of news, events and information using innovative forms of storytelling. It is a catalyst to elevate dialogue, participation, networking, ideas and experiences. The Citizen raises the quality of journalism, dealing with issues of importance at a socially conscious level, providing insight and understanding of choices, consequences, options and solutions to public affairs in our unbounded community.

The Salida Citizen is a volunteer project by residents of Salida, Colorado to improve coverage of critical local issues, support smart decision-making, and facilitate positive communication between elected officials, City staff and concerned local citizens.

Credit goes to Bill Donavan for the original insight. The website took shape in conversations during and after the 2007 mayoral and city council races when a few of us heard repeatedly that, on the one hand, local citizens sometimes held opinions based on misinformation and, on the other, that the City could be doing a better job of communicating with its constituents. To us, these seemed like two sides of the same coin and we thought to address the problem with a website which emphasizes local coverage and encourages citizen participation. We are striving to be a bit more than a website, though. We take seriously David Gregory’s recent tweet: “people like me have to reach people where THEY are instead of asking them to come to me.”

Opportunities

Get involved:

Start a discussion

Create a topic and start a discussion about local matters in our forums. You must create an account first.

Write a news article.

If you haven’t written an article for us before, please submit something for consideration via our email address. Include your name and phone number. Articles must have a local emphasis, adhere to journalistic standards for accuracy and objectivity and have fewer than 800 words. If external documents are referenced they should be included as links for the article. Article submissions may be edited for clarity or content (although they usually aren’t) and may be refused. Contact us first if you have any questions.

Add an event

Use our submission form to add an event or email address to post multi-day or repeating events. We appreciate hearing about local events which we haven’t yet added.

Send us a letter

Send us a letter to the editor via our email address. Letters to the Salida Citizen are normally published as written, although they may be edited for clarity or content. Please include your name, address and phone number (for verification). Anonymous letters will not be printed.

Upload a video

If you have a cool, interesting or funny video relevant to Salida or the Arkansas Valley, upload it to a video site like youtube or vimeo and send us the link. If we like it, we’ll add it to our video gallery.

Write for the Salida Citizen.

We can’t promise you fame, fortune or glory, but if you’re the type who thinks that the job is its own reward, we’d love to have you writing regularly for us. Drop us a line telling us a little about your interests and experience. Our editorial standards and style guidelines are required reading for anyone submitting text for publication.

Give us your feedback.

Have some good ideas? Constructive criticism? Let us know via our feedback form. We’d love to hear from you!