In partnership with
Illuminated Neon 'On Air' Sign in Studio by Jakub Zerdzicki from Pexels/Canva Pro
This is the end of The Latino Newsletter’s 79th week, and as we begin to focus on our year-end tasks, I wanted to share some wins that met and surpassed our 2025 strategic plan. But first, here’s my update about where The Latino Newsletter is at these days:
New Web Look: We have a new web design, and I am digging it. Let us know if you feel the same. Thank you to the team at Boardbit. We cannot recommend them enough for Beehiiv-hosted newsletters like ours.
The Core Team: As of today, The Latino Newsletter is a team of one full-time employee (Senior Producer Joaquin Cotler), two part-time employees (Deputy Editor Carlos Berríos Polanco and me), a freelance Deputy Editor (Serena Maria Daniels), a freelance Podcast Host (Michelle Zacarias), a freelance Video Editor (Juan Diego Ramírez), a freelance Social Media Producer (Juan Escalante), a freelance Columnist (Susanne Ramirez de Arellano), a freelance Devo and Ops lead (Christina Hernández), and a volunteer Marcomms lead (BA Snyder). We formed this team pretty quickly over the last few months, and I will say this: they are all amazing. Our belief in what The Latino Newsletter is and can be is real, and the newsroom vibe is special. The team knows to make fun of my distaste for coquito (yes, look it up — I’m sorry) and my Green Day obsession. I am so grateful to this initial crew for taking a chance. We are giving it our best, and it’s been joyful. We have others joining us soon, too!
Boston Partnership: We are thrilled that Boston’s El Planeta is collaborating with us to expand bilingual reporting in the region I have called home since the early 1990s (right around the time Green Day became a thing). Our first story — an interview with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey — was featured both in POLITICO’s Massachusetts Playbook and MASSterList.
San Juan Bureau: Not to be outdone, our efforts to create a San Juan bureau have already exceeded our expectations. The Latino Newsletter’s stories have already made local news headlines, with Carlos’ incredible reporting getting some love, as well as Susanne’s columns. Talk about a dynamic duo.
Podcast Season 2: Then there is Season 2 of our podcast with Michelle as our host and the 4 J’s producer/editor team (Joaquin, Juan Diego, Juan, and Julio). Our interviews with Dolores Huerta, Lalo Alcaraz, and Reggaeton Con La Gata set the foundation, and we are already seeing the initial growth we knew we would get if we just — wait for it — expanded the group.
Devo/Ops and Marcomms Momentum: Finally, our Devo/Ops and Marcomms efforts are starting to cook. El País featured The Latino Newsletter in English and en español earlier this week, and as of today, we are at 39 percent of our year-end $50,000 campaign goal.
As I begin to prepare for our Board meeting with my fellow members, I wanted to list out the five goals we had set at the start of 2025 to see how we were doing:
Expand Content and Programming
Increase Audience Reach
Strengthen Financial Sustainability
Engage the Community
Build Organizational Capacity
I am thrilled to report that we met our goals and, in some cases, surpassed them.
Rather than laying out every detail here, I want to highlight a few clear wins that show how we executed the 2025 strategic plan:
We secured a six-figure grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand our San Juan bureau and launch American Colony, a bilingual podcast series focused on Puerto Rico. This funding positions The Latino Newsletter for sustained growth through 2026 and beyond. In addition, we have begun to receive initial funding from the Latino Media Consortium.
We implemented a Deputy Editor model designed to distribute daily editorial leadership, support succession planning, and strengthen long-term operational sustainability.
Our audience growth, engagement metrics, and fundraising momentum continued to trend up, alongside concrete plans to expand our editorial team and podcast production.
We reached key podcast milestones, completed foundational financial setup, and received national and international recognition for our journalism, underscoring that the organization’s core systems were firmly in place.
Over the next couple of weeks, as we finish up our year-end work, I will share more specific data and metrics that made 2025 such a fantastic year at The Latino Newsletter. As we grow, our commitment to transparency with our community will never waver.
In the meantime, if you believe in this team and what we have accomplished, and if you want to ensure we go into 2026 with purposeful joy, we would welcome your support.
Seguimos. Always forward.
Julio
And now a word from our sponsor.
7 Ways to Take Control of Your Legacy
. Why leave things to chance when you can take control? Explore ways to start, review or refine your estate plan today with The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning. Download your free guide now!){kind=spacer}
Planning your estate might not sound like the most exciting thing on your to-do list, but trust us, it’s worth it. And with The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning, preparing isn’t as daunting as it may seem.
Inside, you’ll find {straightforward advice} on tackling key documents to clearly spell out your wishes.
Plus, there’s help for having those all-important family conversations about your financial legacy to make sure everyone’s on the same page (and avoid negative future surprises).
Why leave things to chance when you can take control? Explore ways to start, review or refine your estate plan today with The Investor’s Guide to Estate Planning.
What We’re Reading (and Listening to)
Machado on NPR: Via NPR, a 3-minute audio report about Venezuela opposition leader and Nobel Prize winner María Corina Machado left the country.
Noem and Deporting Veterans: From USA TODAY’s Rebecca Morin, “Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was grilled on Capitol Hill, facing questions related to her department’s immigration efforts, including whether United States military veterans have been deported under the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.”
Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director. He edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.
Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any contribution, no matter how small, helps keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!