Uplifting community journalists,
empowering their audiences
ALTAVOZ LAB mentors, trains and uplifts reporters from underrepresented communities to pitch, produce and publish impactful and collaborative local accountability and service oriented reporting projects at community outlets (this includes those that serve Black, Indigenous, immigrant and other communities of color) focusing in areas of the country that have been historically underserved. Our goal is to nurture underrepresented journalists who are well prepared to report on their communities and to create a robust local talent pipeline. We want reporters to stay where they are, deepen their expertise, and serve the communities that they know best.
Neglected and Exposed: Toxic air lingers in a Texas Latino community, revealing failures in state’s air monitoring system
By Alejandra Martinez & Wendy Selene Pérez, Altavoz Lab Fellows
Our Mentors
2022 Cohort
About the Founder
As a journalist, filmmaker, and producer, Valeria Fernández amplifies the stories of marginalized communities. She started her career at a small Spanish-language newspaper in Phoenix, Arizona, and quickly learned how to write for immigrant communities — rather than just about them. She transitioned to writing for English-language media, including The Guardian, Pacific Standard, Latino USA, and PRX’s The World. Valeria won the American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her reporting on marginalized communities.
As a former professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Valeria helped develop the next generation of Latinx and immigrant journalists. Now, as managing editor for palabra., a publication created by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, she’s taking that work to the next level. She sees these journalists as vital for democracy and she aims to lift up their talent and wisdom.
Founding Partners
