What Comes Next Starts in Boston

It’s been a while since I have shared an update about The Latino Newsletter, now in its 43rd week of publication. While we did achieve our 2025 Winter Pledge Goal of $4,000 raised (with just under $6,000 to go before we reach $20,000), we have a significant development to announce, which directly aligns with the vision of what The Latino Newsletter can be for local communities.

Such is the case with the Boston area, a place I’ve called home since 1992. To say this city didn’t shape my future as a professional editor (and eventually a working journalist) would be inaccurate.

Without Boston, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Back then, I saw a Latino community that had always been part of this city but remained largely invisibilized. I, along with others who felt the same way, also saw the potential for what that community could become. All you had to do was go to Fenway Park in the late ’90s when Pedro Martínez was pitching. That foundational sense of what Boston was and what it was becoming always fascinated me.

When I later founded Latino Rebels in 2011, it was based here in the Boston area because that’s where I lived. And while the site grew into a “national” digital outlet, some of the greatest and earliest love it ever received came from Boston’s incredible and supportive Latino community. For many readers here, Latino Rebels wasn’t just a national site. It was local. It felt fresh and different. And just like Boston, it didn’t ask for permission to portray our community the way we as a community demanded.

Now I find myself looking back and giving back to Boston for my next chapter as a journalist and editor. As part of our 2025 strategic plan, we set out to create new journalism opportunities for Latino and Latina journalists in the Boston area.

Consider this our formal media announcement.

The goal is to establish a couple of local multimedia beats focused on the area’s growing Latino community, which continues to expand in reach and, more importantly, in its power to shape the future of Boston and other parts of Massachusetts.

These will be early-stage, startup contract opportunities, which we will post on this site under our Jobs section when we can secure the commitments to make them happen. In the meantime, if you are interested, pitch us here.

We are hopeful, although there is still a lot of work to do to make it happen. Welcome to startup life.

If Latino Rebels taught me anything, though, it's this: always work to elevate the voices of others. We are a small team, but you will have the editorial freedom to cover the community in the way you believe it should be covered. This is about all of us, working together to cover an area we care deeply for.

The Latino Newsletter wants to be part of that future.

Stay tuned for more.

In the meantime, Opening Day for the Sox is next week, and that just means more hope and more opportunity.

About the Author

Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder and publisher of The Latino Newsletter.

We want to keep The Latino Newsletter accessible without paywalls. To help, you can donate here. Any amount (one-time or monthly) will keep us going.

What We’re Watching

New Latino Vote Podcast: Our friends at The Latino Vote Podcast dropped a new episode with Jessica Millan Patterson. former chairwoman of the California Republican Party and the first Latina to hold the role.

Calls to Protect Latino Communities: On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Hispanic Federation “gathered organizations who work in the Latino community and elected officials to denounce the attacks on Latinos while also outlining a path forward for prioritizing policies that improve people’s standard of living,” a press released shared with The Latino Newsletter said.

According to the release, “the press conference took place as Hispanic Federation gathers 130+ partner organizations, many of whom provide a diverse array of services and work in rural, urban, as well as suburban parts of the country. Organizations traveled from around the country to call for legislation policies that address the Latino community’s concerns around workforce development, cost of living, immigration legal services, and many more issues that were detailed in Hispanic Federation’s 2025 Policy Priorities, which is being delivered to Congressional and State legislative offices this week.”

Editor’s Note: Last year, Hispanic Federation funded so that The Latino Newsletter could contract a Latino journalist to report for the “La Voz de Mi Gente 2024” series. More about our donor and financial transparency policy here.

Do you believe in creating new journalism lanes for Latinos and Latinas? Do you believe that U.S. mainstream outlets will never understand our community? Consider donating to The Latino Newsletter. Any little bit helps to keep this newsletter free and accessible to all. ¡Gracias mil!