🤝 Harnessing the power of community journalism 

Each year for the past four years, the Lenfest Institute, a nonprofit focused on strengthening sustainable solutions for local news providers, has convened a philanthropy summit to examine the role of philanthropy and fundraising in local news production. This year, Altavoz Lab was invited as a participant, with the goal of connecting to peers, participating in hands-on workshops to sharpen fundraising skills and gaining insights from inspiring keynote speakers.

Our favorite part of the experience was sharing space with colleagues supporting immigrant journalists and serving immigrant communities. Together, we shared lessons learned in our processes.

Our founder, Valeria Fernández, participated in a panel centered on building practical support for immigrant journalism. She was joined by Maritza L. Félix, founder of Conecta Arizona, Mia Warren, managing director of Feet in 2 Worlds and Indah Nuritasari from Indonesian Lantern Media.  

The panel was moderated by Rebecca Neuwirth, chief strategy officer at Documented. Neuwirth emphasized how journalism with and for immigrant and non-English speaking communities is one of the fastest-growing and most essential areas of nonprofit news — yet it is still often treated as niche rather than central to the future of our information ecosystem.

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