Friends,

If you’re reading this letter, you are among the long and growing list of people we’d like to thank for making The Connecticut Mirror’s first year a successful one.

Included on this list are the people and the organizations from all over Connecticut and beyond who have supported CT Mirror as readers, foundations, sponsors, private donors, media and knowledge partners, contributors, volunteers, business partners and service providers from the public, private and nonprofit sectors.

Among the staff’s many accomplishments for which we are thankful, none stands out more than their hard earned achievement of firmly establishing– day in and day out, and in a body of work that now includes more than 1,300 original stories– CT Mirror’s non-partisan and independent reporting credentials. We are proud to have been named “Media of The Year” by our nonprofit peers at The CT Association of Nonprofits while our news colleagues at the National Journal rated our campaign reporting “the best coverage of this cycle” in Connecticut.

We knew 2010 would be an opportune time to start CT Mirror but we had no idea just how exciting an election year it would be. Now that the election outcomes are decided, 2011 promises to be an extremely poignant time as Connecticut’s public policy decisions will have dramatic impact on the residents of all 169 cities and towns across the state. Although much of our reporting originates in Hartford, the news out of the state Capitol doesn’t become less important as it gets further from Hartford. Our more than 1.5 million page views and our broad reaching generous support from foundations are testament to that.

Thanks to our enhanced website, our Facebook and Twitter pages, our widgets, and our diverse group of partners, we are able to distribute our report, including our new environment beat, far and wide via a variety of platforms.

Please watch this space and our website for information about expanded news coverage, our upcoming “Green Jobs” conference and our 2011 “Proud Sponsor” packages. If you’d like your organization to get a jump on a customized sponsorship plan, please contact me at 860-218-6380 or jcutie@ctmirror.org.

If you’d like to make a tax deductible donation in support of independent journalism and civic engagement you can do so here.

Onbehalf of our board of directors and our staff, I thank you again for your support and wish you the best for this holiday season and 2011.

Sincerely,

Jim Cutie

Chief Operating Officer