FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2022

(Washington, D.C.) - Altavoz Lab is a collaborative project to strengthen reporters at community outlets that serve Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other communities of color in the U.S. with the goal of publishing stories that will enable local audiences to participate more fully in democracy. Altavoz Lab is a program within palabra, a publication created by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ).

Altavoz Lab connects each participating reporter with a mentor to work on an accountability reporting project. The project will be co-published in palabra., which will also provide a stipend for each reporter’s work. Our long-term goal is for the mentorship lab to grow into a support network for the years to come, helping participants form long-lasting relationships with mentors and a cohort of community media journalists.

“You can’t have a strong democracy without a strong media. But the mainstream is not serving our growing diverse immigrant and communities of color populations,” said Valeria Fernández, founder of Altavoz Lab and managing editor of palabra. “The reporters in Altavoz Lab don't talk about their communities, they talk to them. We are here to together strengthen the work these journalists are already doing so well on their own.”

The first cohort launched in May and includes seven reporters from different parts of the mainland U.S. and Puerto Rico. The reporter’s audiences include the South Asian community in the San Jose area to Spanish-speakers in South Florida.

“Altavoz Lab has allowed me to learn from the vision and experience of colleagues and mentors who carry out a responsible journalistic practice focused on accountability,” said Valeria María Torres-Nieves, one of the inaugural reporters. “I am grateful and proud to start my career with this experience.”

The seven cohort members are: