Welcome to the fam

Celebrating our early wins

It's been nearly four months since we announced AfroLA's launch in 2023. A LOT has happened since April. Too many family members, friends, coworkers, neighbors and strangers to list have provided time, energy and help to get this newsroom off the ground.

That support is already paying dividends. In this first official edition of The Latest newsletter, we're celebrating our wins so far, and the people along the way who've contributed to our successes.

Our FIRST story

Part of what makes AfroLA unique is our approach: Los Angeles news with nuance that takes a step back to contextualize its impact, especially for the Black community.

Eso Won Books has been a mainstay in Los Angeles's literary and Black communities for more than 30 years. The owners announced they'd be closing shop by the end of this year. We took a step back from the big announcement to reflect on what that means for the area's remaining Black booksellers, their patrons and the Black community at large.

Our journalism needs YOU

Quality journalism takes time...and $$$. We can't continue to keep AfroLA running without your help.

If everyone who reads this newsletter chips in even $5 and asks a friend to do the same, we can reach our initial $100,000 fundraising goal for AfroLA's operations.

That money will go toward financing accountability journalism reporting, and paying our full-time staff, freelancers and community contributors at rates aligned with local costs of living.

In Case You Missed It...

Newsroom tools for sustainability

AfroLA was selected to participate in the second AI in Local News cohort from the Local News Lab at Columbia Journalism School. The purpose of the program is to develop tools to promote sustainability within local news organizations.

Funding for solutions journalism project

In June, AfroLA executive director Dana Amihere was among 10 journalists named as part the Solution Journalism Network's inaugural class of Complicating the Narratives (CTN) Fellows.

Dana's will produce a series that will be part of AfroLA's earliest in-depth reporting published in 2023. Read more about the other fellows' projects here.

What's next

Board of directors

AfroLA's Board of Directors has ben finalized. Their first meeting is in a few weeks. We're excited to introduce you to this stellar group who will help guide AfroLA in our next newsletter.

Community Advisory Board

An equally important group, our community advisory board, is still taking shape. This group of community members will help steer AfroLA's coverage and help us stay true to our mission. They’ll keep us honest about what we set out to build and how to measure our success in that work.

If you call the L.A. area home, you care about how the Black community is portrayed by the media and you want to ensure that our priorities at AfroLA are in order, this group is for you.

We're still in the process of determining if meetings will occur in-person with COVID precautions in place or remotely. The main goal is to keep everyone safe and healthy. We're willing to accommodate the health concerns of anyone who wants to participate, though. If you're interested, or just want to know more, please email [email protected] or call/text (213) 536-1760 with your questions.

Community Listening Sessions

In late summer, we’ll be holding community listening sessions so you can tell us what you want AfroLA to look and sound like and how we could best allocate our time and resources. These sessions are part of our community information needs assessment to help us refine what our editorial priorities should look like in terms of coverage areas, beats, distribution channels and how stories themselves are presented.