As 2025 winds down, the editors of the Acton Exchange would like to take a quick look back. We are wrapping up our second full year of publication and have, for many people in town, become a valuable resource for what’s going on, why it matters, and how to get involved.
As a town, there is news of many types and from many sources. In the past year, our intrepid volunteers reported on business openings and closings, school reorganization, ICE raids (and subsequent protests), festivals and celebrations, state grants awarded, high school sports, and so much more.
Thinking back over the history of the Acton Exchange, we are immensely impressed with and thankful for the many volunteers who envisioned, created, and continue to build the Acton Exchange news source. Back in 2022, a working group of the Acton-area League of Women Voters studied the detrimental effects of the decline of local journalism, and dreamed of founding a non-profit, independent news source for Acton. Early in 2023, the League attracted nearly a hundred townspeople to a community meeting to gauge the appetite for such an undertaking.
Out of this grassroots beginning emerged a core group ready to roll up their sleeves and start writing, editing, and developing a technical and organizational infrastructure. In May 2023, we began publishing articles via the Action Unlimited, taking advantage of their existing production and distribution system. By November 2023, our emerging Tech Team had built a simple, blog-style website, and we began publishing under The Acton Exchange banner.
With a tiny budget gathered through a GoFundMe campaign, creative design contributed by a local designer, and a huge push by the Tech and Editorial Teams, we created the current web design. The new site opened to the public on April 9, 2024. The redesigned format supported new content types, including Obituaries and Letters to the Editor. With the first edition of 2025, we rolled out the Calendar, which has become one of the most frequently-accessed features of the paper.
Throughout 2025, we have enjoyed an increasing number of articles per week, submitted by a growing cadre of volunteer writers. We have also matured in our ability to report and edit on difficult topics, such as ICE raids and school district reorganization. It’s amazing how far we have come in three short years!
As an entirely volunteer organization, we depend on our writers. We celebrate and thank all of our writers, but would especially like to acknowledge the hard work of our Select Board reporter, Tom Beals and School Committee reporter, Diane Baum. These writers follow the bi-weekly meetings that are at the heart of town government, and provide excellent and thorough coverage after each meeting. While the town (along with Boxborough) is in the midst of the school reorganization discussion, Diane has done double duty following both the AB School Board and AB Forward meetings. In addition, we have many other writers who step up to keep Actonians informed and entertained. The editors thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.
The editors and writers are taking a holiday break, so there will be no edition on December 27 or January 3. Next year, we’ll dive back in to make sure that Acton’s online news source continues to provide all of the news that you need.
As a reminder, if you want to contribute to the Acton Exchange, we need people who can write stories or provide a few hours a week of support in many other ways.
And finally, gentle readers, we could not do this without you. Thank you for your readership, your words of encouragement, and your financial support.
The Acton Exchange Editorial Team
