Giving 'community the power of the paper' is mission of new Suburban Marquee publication

The Suburban Marquee is the community source for news that matters to people living in the Southland area and throughout South Cook County, emphasizing providing your community with the power of its own media voice.

Jeff Coleman, The Suburban Marquee publisher, said that the first issues had been distributed by hand, with copies handed out door-to-door.

"I want to give the community the power of the paper. I want this to be a real community paper," Coleman said. "If you have input in something, you're going to read and have interest in it."

In addition to having the paper visible in the community, Coleman also wants what is in the publication's content to be community-driven.

"I want the community to give us 80% of stories," Coleman said. "It'll be about business promotion, what's going on with kids in school and sports."

Coleman said the paper's name was inspired by how theater marquees would spark excitement in local communities.

"Back in the day, there was a marquee on all our theatres that publicized who was performing on a big, bright marquee welcoming the people in," Coleman said. "You'd get excited about going to see the show when you saw the name up there."

Through building trust in the paper, Coleman wants to make The Suburban Marquee a news source people can turn to for advice that means something.

In addition to print publication, stories featured in The Suburban Marquee are also online at SuburbanMarquee.com.

Some of the recently featured stories about the Southland community include a profile on Calumet City Alderwoman-Elect Monet S. Wilson, the first African-American woman in Calumet to serve in that position, and an article about Wilson and four other African-American women who are making history in local government.