December 24, 2025

Media That Makes a Difference

Connecting engaged Minnesotans who care about finding solutions and taking action.

Please share this newsletter and our stories with friends and family

It is bittersweet that we open today's newsletter, featuring details from our 2025 Impact Report, with the news that our dear co-founder, Glenda Martin (pictured left with co-founder Mollie Hoben), passed away under hospice care at home on December 19. We are extremely grateful that we were able to honor her and the other three previous publishers at our 40th anniversary celebration in the spring.

A small memorial service will be held in January. Mollie and Glenda's daughter Cori have shared: "Friends may honor Glenda's memory by reading books by woman authors and talking about them with others, supporting their local library, and patronizing independent booksellers; memorial donations suggested to Minnesota Women's Press."

This Week's Focus: 2025 Impact Report

Find the full report here

Early in 2025, Unidos MN approached us to do a special 28-page bilingual publication called "Know Your Rights." Their underwriting support enabled us to produce and distribute 25,000 copies around the state. Recently, we were able to publish the Somali language version, and intend to share one in Amharic as well.

Somali-language

"Know Your Rights"

Spanish/English 

Know Your Rights

Get trained to protect your workplace and neighborhood

Top 3 Stories of 2025

BOOK: Helping Loved Ones With Mental Health Issues

Photo Gallery: Hands-Off Rally April 2025

Know Your Rights: Spanish (Spring 2025)

(see the Top 15 list in online report)

Thanks to advertisers, we were able to print 11 issues in 2025. Unfortunately, we are forced to cut that to six issues in 2026 as a cost-cutting measure.

Our Badass membership and underwriters enabled us to produce an additional 143 online-only stories in 2025.

The topics readers indicate are most important to them:

1. Politics & Policy
2. Re-imagining Public Safety and Justice
3. Gender-based Violence
4. Collective Health
5. Ecosystems

Thanks to the Wilson Social Justice Fund at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, we were able to kick off a special housing community action project that will culminate in a May/June print issue.

Thanks to underwriting support from financial planner Joan Gilles, we were able to share 50 commentaries in 2026.

Press Forward Minnesota and Lenfest Institute for Journalism enabled us to do deeper work with communities statewide. We talked about:

• Housing in Winona
• Caregiving in Mankato
• Firearms in Grand Rapids
• Gender-based violence in Saint Cloud and Rochester
• Data centers in Farmington and Minneapolis

Each month, about 20,000 people read Minnesota Women’s Press. Fewer than 300 supporting members currently fund that coverage. Closing that gap is the single biggest factor in deciding what we can cover in 2026. 

With the shifting priorities in where companies put their advertising dollars, if they have the budget at all, coverage like ours — that centers marginalized voices — is difficult to fund. It exists largely because members, donors, and underwriters want to see it happen.

-Advertisements-

This Week's New Online Stories



How Women in Stillwater Are Making a Difference

"By each committing to donate $100, we collectively raise $10,000 or more to donate to a chosen nonprofit in just one hour."



Miriam El-Khatib Channels Hopelessness Into Purpose

“I felt a deep helplessness set in. None of what I was doing felt like it was making a difference.”

Days passed while she could not bring herself to show up on the streets, to pick up the phone and make calls, or to take on speaking engagements. Then, in November 2023, El-Khatib saw a photo on social media that would change the trajectory of her career and her life. 

— Badass Member-Supported Bulletin Board —

Action Steps to Protect Minnesotans With Immigrant Roots

Mutual Aid Options

Immigration resources

• Minneapolis Immigrant & Refugee Affairs
• Phone: 612-673-3129
• Email: oira@minneapolismn.gov
• St. Paul Immigration Resources
• Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) intake line: 800-223-1368
• ICE detainee locator
• Rescursos en español

Support feminist storytelling!

Follow our coverage:

Interested in arts, books & events?

Your membership is more than just support;

it's a commitment to foster ongoing conversations about

issues and solutions that affect all of us.

Interested in reaching our civically engaged audience? Contact ads@womenspress.com