Today we print more than 7000 copies! Our readership has expanded from the school-based pioneers who started peer programs in Canada to persons around the world who have initiated peer and mentor programs for children, youth, adults, and senior citizens in all kinds of settings for a variety of goals. For example, our readers include health educators in Scotland providing peer education to prevent AIDS/HIV; psychologists in England developing peer helping to reduce bullying in schools; Australian youth assisting other youth to cope with chronic diseases; employees providing career support and coaching to other employees; United States Peace Corp workers establishing peer support programs in developing nations; and community workers in Hong Kong assisting students to learn how to help each other.

The breadth and depth of peer helping has increased considerably since we first started publishing this Journal. And guess what? So have our costs! Fortunately over the years we have been able to locate sponsors to defray some of the costs. The Canadian government, the Province of British Columbia, and Microtraining Associates have all generously provided financial assistance to print or distribute various issues of the Journal. Countless volunteers have helped to write, edit, proof-read, fold, staple, stuff, and mail each issue.

Now we must rely on you, the reader, to assist with future issues of the Journal. However, we are not asking for a subscription fee for the Journal. Instead we are asking you to enrol as a member in the Peer Resources Network, and for a minimal, annual fee, receive an extensive number of services and benefits, one of which will be the continuation of your subscription to the Journal.

Our decision to initiate this Network fee was based on four factors. On one side of the balance sheet costs, and particularly the costs of paper and postage, have risen substantially. At the same time benefactors, patrons, and grant sources have dropped sharply as governments and funding organizations realign their priorities. To those of you who have contacted us wondering whether you missed an issue of the Journal, all we can say is: We all missed an issue!

On the other side of the balance sheet, there continues to be an increased interest in traditional and innovative peer programs at all levels partly as a way of reducing the delivery costs of professional services and partly as a way to meet the world-wide, natural state of people helping other people. We understand the needs expressed and the services desired by persons associated with peer work, and Network members will receive a comprehensive package of services that will be useful for virtually all our readers. Network members will also receive reduced fee rates for our highly-rated train-the-trainer workshops.

A third factor contributing to the Network fee is the rapid advancement in communication technology. Our own ability to learn how to use computers, modems, fax machines, and other high-tech equipment and our ability to learn to navigate the internet, or information superhighway, has created opportunities to provide enhanced services while keeping costs low. For example, the Editorial you are reading now, will in the future, be part of a journal copy that will be published as an electronic journal on the internet. With just a few computer keystrokes, you will be able to gain access to all of our print information, including those back issues you missed! Another example is the notice on page 3 of this issue, soliciting peer program leaders for a peer career development system using the internet.

The final factor that helped us to decide on establishing a Network fee is our attempt to make peer and mentor information, services, and consultation a viable non-profit enterprise. While a number of states in the United States and provinces in Canada have formed associations to promote and support peer work and the National Peer Helper Assocation in the United States provides valuable resources, our organization, Peer Resources, is unique. We are the only organization in the world that provides the combination of expertise, support, service, training, networking, and resources in the peer and mentor fields.