A LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER

From Ryan Derfler, Founder & Creative Director, Chadds Ford JunXion

Updated August 13th, 2020

Dear Chadds Ford JunXion Community,

As the owner of the media platform and community-building organization that we call Chadds Ford JunXion, an organization who's manifesto spells out a desire to bring us together, it feels like I'm overdue a statement on several vital issues.

Regarding the Business

Dozens of small- and medium-sized businesses support JunXion, and many have faced unprecedented challenges this year. There are three camps, 1/3 who are in despair, 1/3 who have innovated and found ways to make up for lost revenue, and 1/3 who are having their best year ever. Our commitment to helping our sponsors grow their business was put to the test, so we worked harder than ever before to help with everything from business loan guidance to assisting with marketing and branding projects.

While many businesses are barely surviving or even going out of business, including many in the publishing space that we live in, in July, we had our best month ever. There are no signs of slowing demand tor support this treasured community and the important work we are doing. Our approach to lifting locals with exciting content not available anywhere else makes sense for strong businesses that want to earn our residents' business. As such, over the summer, we took critical steps to expand our capabilities, including 1. We are investing in the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) training provided by The Allele Group to make us more efficient, 2. Investing in training by renowned customer service guru Joey Coleman, and 3. we made a key hire to our sponsor services team. 

In April and again in August, at the request of area residents, we added thousands of new addresses to deliver to every home in the Unionville-Chadds Ford area. We increased our production budget and are proud that our August issue is the largest we've ever produced. We're now averaging over 70 pages per month of resident-generated content, a boggling mark not being accomplished by anyone we know of in the Greater Philadelphia region. We are moving forward with our plans to launch an incredible new guide to the area, packed full of local tips, in the next six months. In many ways, this has been our strongest season to date. 

Regarding Racial Equality

As I wrote in my July Publishers Note, Chadds Ford was the sacred place where black fugitives finally found freedom as they crossed the Mason-Dixon line. Residents hid them in farmhouses and thwarted their would-be captors by turning them away or making them take the "long way around." The heritage of Unionville-Chadds Ford is based on Christian and Quaker values that implore us to help our neighbors, and we continue to seek ways to do that. Last year we launched our Force for Good initiative to connect those who want to help with those who need help. We have been astonished to see dozens of residents offer assistance, which only grew during the pandemic. 

We know that many of us in the community do not fully understand what it is like to grow up in poverty or in areas where the odds are against you from birth. While many of us have relationships with people of many backgrounds, demographically, we are primarily white and affluent. As such, we have intentionally sought out stories to help provide a window into the lives of those who are different. Fortunately, we have no shortage of residents doing good work in this regard. So we have published stories about immigrants like Dell & Sudha Joshi or the work of Tom & Sophia Hanson and their National Youth Foundation, which does an incredible job of addressing literacy and inequality across the nation. This is a small glimpse at the support we extend to our neighbors, and we are just getting started.

Regarding JunXion's Role

As noted in my opening sentence, we connect residents to make us a closer community and join us to good businesses to improve our lives. We take that mission very seriously and spare no time or expense in our pursuit of lofty ideals. We decided from Day One that while we produce outstanding content, we aren't interested in covering breaking news or every hot button issue, most of which are clickbait. Instead, we look for stories about the lives of the people who live right in our area. And while some stories deal with hard issues, the vast majority are positive and uplifting. We enjoy telling stories that would otherwise go untold because they appear too small or not newsworthy to other media outlets. To us, and to the friends and family who love them, these stories are not too small but are full of value and meaning for our community. 

In addition to connecting residents, we have shined a spotlight on local businesses that need your business to survive. We've highlighted efforts to help first-responders. We've disseminated information about new hours and procedures. Most importantly, we've led by example by launching contests to order take-out food. Let's not forget that we've eaten over 20 cheesesteaks, so you have no excuse not to find a good one near you (while the stories are light, our waistline has expanded)!

In closing, I've never been more proud to be a Chaddsfordian. It does not surprise me to see people moving back to the "Chadds Ford family home" this year, Chadds Ford, more than most other places, feels like home. The vast open spaces, the small, locally-owned, and operated businesses, the salt-of-the-Earth people--we are surrounded by treasure. Thank you for sharing it with our team and me, we are blessed to call many of you friend and neighbor, a particularly acute sentiment now. Please feel free to contact me at ryan@cfjunxion.com.

Yours,

Ryan Derfler, Founder, Chadds Ford JunXion