TAPinto, a network of more than 80 local news sites, has selected Jandoli School of Communication faculty members Anne and Richard Lee as the network’s featured franchisees for the month of April. The organization highlights a different franchisee each month for making a difference in its community.

The School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University owns TAPinto Greater Olean, an online news site that covers communities near the university. Journalism students staff the site as part of the Jandoli School’s Journalists’ Workshop course, which the Lees team teach.

Since its inception in January 2016, the news site’s impact on the Greater Olean community and its readership have increased steadily. TAPinto Greater Olean reporters have written more than 100 local stories on the COVID-19 pandemic, and the site received more than 80,000 page views in March.

“TAPinto Greater Olean has become an important learning lab for Jandoli School students – and a vital source of information in Western New York,” said Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School. “Anne and Rich Lee work tirelessly to give our students a hands-on journalism education experience. It’s inspiring to see our students rise to the demands of breaking news and serve our communities and I am thankful they have such dedicated mentors to learn from.”