How to Help The Latino Newsletter

The Latino Newsletter is closing its 126th week — days after a historic national election where Latinos indeed played a major role — and over the last two months, I have been thinking a lot about this newsletter’s direction. During that time, I have been solo and part-time, trying to keep the work going.

Fortunately, part of the work will involve taking on a new podcast production project that speaks to our mission. It’s great news, and yes, we’ll use this newsletter to tell the story behind it. More to come on that.

Still, consistently editing and publishing newsletter posts and stories takes a lot of time. Even three times a week has been challenging, so I’m thinking about the right cadence, and that’s part of why we didn’t go too deep into election cycle coverage. We didn’t have the budget and bandwidth to make it happen.

We have had to pause our newsletter output a bit during this time, and as much as I want to keep publishing, I am not going to force it. It will happen when it happens.

I love to edit. I love to publish new stories and voices. I write when it makes sense, but the bigger focus here is on others’ work, not mine.

I was programmed to lean into the hustle, and deprogramming that mindset has been hard, but I am trying. I have learned that taking risks didn’t get us to the next level, even though I was deeply proud of the work coming out of this outlet in 2024, 2025, and through August 2026. But the funding environment has been challenging, and we just couldn’t keep going as we had before.

I am thankful for those who believed in our efforts and contributed.

I am learning that it’s okay to slow down, ask for help, and build something that lasts, no matter how small. I stay hopeful. I always will.

So it’s time to reset our direction.

I know the work still lands: American Colony won a Bronze Award in its category and the Listener’s Choice Award at the 2026 Signal Awards, and we still have our partnership with El Planeta in the Boston area.

Where does that leave us? The Latino Newsletter has production work, which is fantastic. But production work alone won’t sustain this outlet, and that’s where you can help.

We have a great opportunity to fundraise until December 31. We are part of NewsMatch, which means that until the end of the year, gifts to The Latino Newsletter are matched, up to $1,000 per donor, while match funds last. New monthly gifts are matched at 12 times the monthly amount.

Our stretch goal is $40,000, on top of anything NewsMatch brings. Those funds would keep us paywall-free, create a contributor budget, and provide editorial and operational support.

If you value The Latino Newsletter’s work, you can give here. A monthly gift would help us most.

Independent journalism has many voices and needs, but if you have gotten value from our work since 2024 or given in the past, helping now would go a long way.

Thank you.
Julio

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. He is also its current part-time publisher and executive director.

Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any contribution, no matter how small, helps keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!