OPINION: Want to shape the conversation? Apply to be on the Journal's Community Council

What should a local newspaper being doing better? What stories are we missing? What Albuquerque voices aren't being heard loudly enough? 

Those are the questions we wrestle with every day in the Journal newsroom. But we know we don't have all the answers — no one does. 

That's why we're inviting interested readers to apply for the Journal's Community Council. 

The Community Council is a group of engaged residents and community leaders who meet monthly with the Journal's Editorial Board to advise, debate and discuss the most pressing issues facing our community. Council members will also be invited to certain Editorial Board meetings with newsmakers, which we intend to start streaming live on the Journal's website in the near future. Being on the council is a chance for readers to pull up a chair and guide how the Journal thinks about coverage, commentary and the questions to ask people in power. 

We're looking for people who care deeply about our community and pay close attention to what's happening around them, and are not afraid to share their perspectives — especially when they challenge the status quo. 

The hour-long meetings are conversational and candid. The council will weigh in on a variety of issues — education, health care, economic development, crime, housing and homelessness, or other issues that are weighing on members' minds.

Just as importantly, a perk of joining the Council is to have a platform of your own. council members will be encouraged to write op-eds on topics about which they are passionate, and those submissions will be given publication priority in our Opinion pages. Whether you want to advocate for a policy change, highlight a neighborhood issue or challenge prevailing wisdom, joining the Community Council is one way to make your voice heard. 

At a time when trust in institutions — including the media — is faltering, we think one way to change course is to pull back the curtain and usher in more transparency. The Community Council is one way we at the Journal are opening the door to hear directly from the people we proudly serve.

We're especially interest in putting together a council that is reflective of Albuquerque's diversity. We want people from different neighborhoods, professions, ethnicities and ages. Agreement isn't required. Curiosity, engagement and the ability to engage in a good-faith debate certainly is. 

We only have three requirements: First, you have to be a community leader — we intentionally leave that term vague, but we are looking for folks who can poll populations and get the sense from a community of people what’s going on — second, no current candidates or sitting politicians and third, you must be a Journal subscriber. After all, how can you weigh in if you haven’t been reading and know what’s going on?

Have you ever asked yourself, "Why didn't the Journal ask this question? Why didn't the paper include this perspective?" Well, this is your chance to do something about. 

We'd like to give a big thank you to the Journal's original Community Council cohort. We appreciate the hours of debate, feedback and criticism we've received from you for the last year and a half.  Many of the members have written their own op-eds, individually and in groups. Dr. Rohini McKee, a community council member, shares her perspective on local health care issues in an op-ed on the front page of today's Opinion section. Community Council members have also advised the Editorial Board on the various calls for change we've made during their tenure on the council. 

Applications are open for the next year of Community Council membership. Resumes and cover letters can be sent to epage@abqpubco.com. We hope to seat a new council in the coming weeks.

We in the newsroom wouldn't be in this business if we didn't think that a free press is vital to a healthy community and democracy. We also know that Albuquerque's story is never etched in stone — it's always being edited, drafted, modified and tweaked. 

Want to help us tell it?