Alexandria Times

The Alexandria Times is the city's only source of investigative and in-depth reporting on issues impacting Alexandria residents. We take deep dives into the key issues that touch on the daily lives of city residents. We view our role as that of a watchdog of those in positions of power – particularly government, schools and business leaders. 

We have won 54 Virginia Press Association awards during the past four years for our coverage of Alexandria, including 22 for our work in 2025 alone, which was our best showing ever. We have won awards in the last two years for our investigations into: living conditions at a low-income housing complex; the FBI probe into a former mayor for accepting a quarter-million-dollar payment from the city's leading developer; and for an environmental investigation into toxins at the site of Robinson Terminal North. We also broke the story about a top ACPS administrator who was being paid for two full-time jobs, investigated an OSHA investigation into the city's Parks and Rec Department, and broke the story about unusually high levels of PFAS chemicals in Alexandria's drinking water.

We also ran series that took an in-depth look at key issues impacting city residents. We won a VPA award for our series on redistricting of Alexandria City Public Schools in Alexandria, and also ran a series of stories about the impact of the prolonged government shutdown in 2025 on city residents and businesses.

Helping to build community is another crucial role played by media organizations. From our many feature stories about city residents – in our City Creatives, our Wedding, and our Seniors sections, among others – to our recent implementation of a weekly sports section, our coverage of interesting Alexandrians helps facilitate a sense of community in Alexandria. We are in the early stages of growing the new Sports section to try and fill the gap left by the Washington Post's decision to de-emphasize local sports coverage. Donations in support of this would help us expand our local sports coverage more quickly.

Unlike most media organizations in this era, the Alexandria Times is non-partisan and non-ideological. We abide by the highest journalistic standards, including ethics guidelines set by the Society of Professional journalists. Our philosophy is that there are not only two, but usually many sides to all controversial issues. We view it as our job to tell all perspectives as fairly as possible.

Our move to nonprofit status was necessitated by the inflation of the last few years. Our revenues have not kept pace with the rising cost to cover the news in Alexandria and distribute it to our readers. We are in the process of applying for a series of grants, including one in which we would partner with a city department to produce oral histories and podcasts about immigration in Alexandria, from its history to current day. Another grant application, if we are chosen, would pay for a year-long environmental investigation. 

While we will continue to apply for at least a half-dozen grants per year, we can't rely on them because there are many applications for each available grant and competition from other worthy organizations is fierce. That's why donations from Alexandria residents and businesses are key to the Times' long-term success. Our goal is to not only survive, but continue to grow and improve our coverage so that Alexandrians are as informed as possible about the city in which they live.

Please consider including the Alexandria Times, which is the doing business as name for the 501(c)(3) organization Alexandria Community Media, in your Spring2Action and year-end giving.