Founded by Karen Kaiser in 1989, the Castro Valley Forum has long served as a source of news and information for locals. It is the largest privately owned community newspaper in the country and the only paper serving Castro Valley, says longtime advertising sales executive Mary Florence.
In 2000, Fred Zehnder, owner of the San Leandro Times, bought out the Forum. It is published every Wednesday and delivered, not "dumped," to all residents of Castro Valley free of charge, although donations are accepted in the form of subscriptions.
Former Castro Valley residents living as far away as New York and Prague, Czech Republic, still subscribe to the paper and have it mailed to them weekly. Now that's loyalty!