📰 Reporting for Change: How Claudia Yaujar Amaro and Planeta Venus Empower Latino Communities in Wichita Kansas

Claudia Amaro, a 2025 Altavoz Lab Community Journalism Fellow and founder of Planeta Venus, is building a bilingual resource guide for Spanish-speaking and Latino families in Wichita, Kansas.

The  guide now connects Latino residents to 50+ local resources,  including education, employment, healthcare, housing, legal assistance, and food support.

This resource was created after Amaro surveyed and spoke directly with Latino residents across Kansas to understand why many families were not accessing services that already existed.

“We realized there were already a lot of resources in Kansas, but they were not reaching Latinos, and at the same time, many Latinos didn’t know where to look or where to start. ”

— Claudia Amaro, Altavoz Lab 2025 Fellow

What she heard repeatedly was simple: “There were already a lot of resources in Kansas, but they were not reaching Latinos.”

Through surveys and community listening sessions, residents shared common concerns:

• They didn’t know where to start looking for help
• They weren’t sure if services would ask for documentation
• They didn’t know if anyone there would speak Spanish

So instead of assuming, Claudia started with listening.

Through her reporting, Claudia is identifying trusted organizations, essential services, and community-led initiatives that many Latino residents rely on, but are often hard to find in Spanish.

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