It’s the Monday after the July 4 weekend, the 57th week of The Latino Newsletter, and the out-of-office vacation responses keep hitting our inboxes, which can only mean one thing for us here: it’s time for some summer hours, at least until August.

Starting today and continuing through the end of July, we’ll publish a newsletter and web post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Why?

I believe in journalism collectives, that the power of the sum is stronger than any of the individuals who make up the group. My experience as the founder of Latino Rebels centered on that, but as successful and groundbreaking as that outlet was, I made a number of mistakes during its 12-year run. Think of The Latino Newsletter as a second chance to learn from those mistakes and build a nonprofit media outlet that will forever serve our community.

I have also reached a point in my 35-year professional career (yes, I started my journalism days in the late 1980s) where I have accomplished a lot and have no desire to continue chasing individual accolades or awards. I’m good.

Since I founded The Latino Newsletter over a year ago, I have been informing our Board, interested funders, and supporters that a succession plan is happening now, not five years from now, not 10 years from now. I want to give back to the next generation of journalists who work in an environment where Latinos continue to be underrepresented and underinvested in American journalism. The next leg of the relay needs to be run, and I still want to be part of the team, but I no longer have to sprint. I want a strong team helping out The Latino Newsletter through its next critical growth phase.

In addition to our podcast strategy (help us launch season two) and our ongoing efforts to establish local bureaus in cities such as San Juan, Boston, and other locations, we will begin actively seeking funding for daily newsletter editors to edit and publish our daily stories.

Here is the idea: a daily Deputy Editor to produce The Latino Newsletter’s editorial output each day, from the newsletter post to our web posts, social media, and community building. Each Deputy Editor would, in essence, be responsible for one day. They would work with TLN’s overall editorial strategy, and no, I am not going away. I will become the part-time Publisher and work alongside each day’s Deputy Editor.

How much could a Deputy Editor make? I envision a budget of $1,000 per day over the course of 50 weeks (one day per week with two weeks of no activity). If we find five Deputy Editors, that would mean a budget of $250,000 per year, along with operational costs and the cost of my time in a part-time capacity.

That would be the dream.

I could wait a year and fundraise to make it happen, but why not now, and why not us?

Again, I want to be clear: The Latino Newsletter does not have the funds today to initiate a Deputy Editor workflow, but we will actively pitch this idea moving forward. In the meantime, if you are interested in becoming part of the Deputy Editor conversation, you can email me here: [email protected].

Add “Deputy Editor” to the subject line and tell me your why in no more than three paragraphs. Share a link to your proudest work.

The next chapter starts with us, and there’s no better moment than now.

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

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