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How Grice Connect Wants to Change Local Media

A Grice Connect shout out and special thanks to Andy Cole, Editor of The Georgie-Anne and a reporter with Eagle Media for spending some time learning a little more about Grice Connect.
DeWayne Grice

A Grice Connect shout out and special thanks to Andy Cole, Editor of The Georgie-Anne and a reporter with Eagle Media for spending some time learning a little more about Grice Connect. He learned more about our vision to use Grice Connect to change the way we look at local media.

Andy is a talented and aspiring young journalist who did a remarkable job in trying to explain our vision in a few minutes, better than I have been able to do in a year. I find it if much easier to tell a strangers story, than my own.

Here is the text and video from Andy's story.

Following the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew four-and-a-half years ago, DeWayne Grice, founder of Grice Connect, knew something had to change.

“In working through, in the newspaper business, I understood that there was really a—like I say a lack of centralized for urgent or immediate news in the event of a disaster or crisis,” said Grice. “It really grew out of a desire for our community to connect.”

Grice built Grice Connect on the idea that he would not only inform the community but provide resources and opportunities to those in our community. As a journalist, Grice isn’t just spotlighting the problems, he’s committed to fixing them too.

“We’re setting out here to do something different. We’re looking at journalism from a different perspective,” said Grice. “We don’t want to be that traditional online, clickbait, that sensational headline or picture that’s going to get you to click the story.”

That all starts with his business model. Unlike other traditional media outlets, Grice takes a ‘Georgia Public Broadcasting approach.’ Grice Connect doesn’t have sponsor, but, instead, has partners—businesses that believe in what he’s doing and want to support that.

DeWayne Grice editing a story on Grice Connect

Recently, for example, Grice broke the news on an apartment fire that left 20 without homes. Later that evening, he turned to his nonprofit, Bulloch County VOAD, to activate the Statesboro Food Bank, Fostering Bulloch Hope Chest and a local hotelier to begin to get those displaced back on their feet.

“You know, I just think I’m an ordinary guy just like you with a vision to make a difference in my community and I think the best way I could make a difference in my community is tell the story of my community,” Grice said.

So, what’s next for Grice Connect?

“The future is to develop a model that we can replicate in other markets. To have a model we can deploy very rapidly if a local newspaper disappears. And I think we’re doing that,” said Grice.

“My goal everyday is to find those fascinating individuals and share those stories in a way that’s compelling while they’re here to enjoy it.”