Today, we welcome our 15th association and 17th state to be represented in the Column Partner Program — the Louisiana Press Association!

“We’re excited to partner with Column as we look toward the future of public notices,” says Jerry Raehal, Executive Director at the Louisiana Press Association. “Column has shown to be more than a software company. They have actively testified on newspaper media’s behalf in several other states’ legislatures, and have provided data and resources to the conversations.”

The Column team looks forward to supporting the Louisiana Press Association in their commitment to real journalism and their strong leadership on public policy efforts that promote transparency and openness in government. LPA is clearly dedicated to their members, always working to build audiences across different platforms and develop new revenue streams; Column intends to help strengthen LPA’s efforts by redesigning their public notice website and expanding the accessibility of this statewide resource for citizens.

“Jerry Raehal was one of the first people I ever talked to about Column, back when he was a publisher in Colorado and I was researching notices at the Harvard Shorenstein Center,” Jake Seaton, Column’s Founder and CEO, reflects. “We’re excited to be able to work with him and use this partnership to deliver real value to Louisiana publishers across the state.”

Column formed the Partner Program to serve as the technological muscle for organizations advocating in support of public notice. As our network of partners has grown so has our ability to deliver industry-leading tools and features. Earlier this spring at The Brief, Column’s CTO Leo Hentschker announced ground-breaking technical updates to the free websites that Column hosts for press associations, including a mapping feature that lets people see how the information contained in public notice relates to their own lives and communities.

Every day, our partners help us improve our technology, to not only make the experience of uploading public notices to statewide sites as seamless as possible, but also make public information itself more valuable.

LPA is taking a meaningful step to be at the forefront of public notice legislation, and Column is excited to help inform their strategy.

If you’re interested in hearing more about about our Partner Program, watch The Brief, or reach out at [email protected].