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Categories: Articles, William “Tony” Rogers,
Good News You Can Use is the slogan created by Pat Stevenson, publisher of the Harlem Community News 30 years ago. I met Pat when she was covering HARLEM WEEK, which was one of the first events covered in her new publication. I thought it was an interesting position to take: making Harlem’s first free weekly newspaper the only publication that did not cover negative stories.
Before starting HCN, Pat was a successful marketing and advertising executive. After leaving corporate America due to a very traumatic airplane experience, Pat decided to start her own newspaper business. She told me that many in advertising and marketing did not see positive news as profitable as negative news, something that has not really changed.
Publishing only good news that people can use has allowed HCN to stay in business for the past 30 years. It has not been easy, especially for a free publication. Community organizations can receive coverage that would not be picked up by the mainstream newspapers. This is one of the factors that has made HCN popular in Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens.
HCN is truly a reflection of the communities that the publications serve. When I first met Pat, I was not only the executive vice president of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, but I was the director of the Office of Urban Policy and Governmental Affairs at The City College of New York.
At that time, I was working with CCNY and Columbia University to introduce information technology to the Harlem Community. Pat suggested that I write about it in HCN. My information column was the foundation for community awareness of the dangers of a digital divide.
After working with Pat over a period of time, I discovered that we were related; my wife at that time, Carmen Tatum-Rogers, was her cousin. When Carmen became ill, I turned to alternative health options to address her illness.
I learned about holistic health options too late to save Carmen, but to this day, HCN has given me a platform to write about holistic health options that have been beneficial to many people, and I will always be thankful to Pat for providing me with the opportunity to heal myself and others.
Over the years, I have written many articles about self-improvement. It was Pat who suggested that I combine some of my articles into a book, and I did. Reflections on Self-Empowerment was my first, and the ART of W.A.R. Strategies for Self-Empowerment was the second. Both books were an accumulation of HCN articles.
It is hard to believe 30 years have passed, but I am proud and honored to be part of the journey. Like Mayor Eric Adams, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Danny Glover, and Albert Einstein, I struggled with dyslexia. We all had to work extra hard in the areas of reading and writing.
Each of the above had to find strategies to overcome. Writing for the Harlem Community News every week for the past 30 years was my way of addressing this mental issue that has nothing to do with intelligence.
This is one more reason why I am grateful for being a part of the HCN family. Happy 30th Anniversary, Pat, and congratulations on yo
