The Latino Newsletter in 2025

I write today’s post as I follow coverage of the devastating wildfires happening out of Los Angeles. With so many friends out there, I am thinking about them and get hopeful when I see each of them mark themself “safe” on social media. Life can change in an instant, and anyone who is still denying climate change in 2024, I don’t know what more proof you need.

Our friends at Luz Media posted information and resources that I am sharing here.

So I know I am writing the following from a place of privilege. Last year was a tough year professionally, but I got to work on The Latino Newsletter. I got to do it from my home. I got to enjoy time with family and friends. There is a lot to be thankful for.

Journalism is no way near going away. The last 24 hours from Southern California confirm that.

This new year has already started with so many stories that I wouldn’t blame anyone for just shutting down and getting off the grid, but I would urge people to not walk away from supporting credible and trusted voices, especially now that Meta is out of the fact-checking game. The need for those who have been in the social and digital journalism spaces for the last 20 years (hi!) is even greater.

I will be honest: I didn’t think The Latino Newsletter would make it to 2025. I had hoped we would get to our year-end $10,000 goal and while we didn’t get to 100%, we got to 88% and we now have 95 supporters.

We even received two $1,000 donations from people who have always believed in my work.

What does this all mean?

For one, we can keep publishing daily Monday-Friday posts until the end of February. After that, unless we continue to bring in more funding, we will need to make some adjustments:

• We would have to cut back on our daily posts and probably just publish two times a week. I don’t want that to happen because The Latino Newsletter is trending up, but if it happens, it happens. What we won’t do is shut down. I don’t want this outlet to stay dormant like the one I created back in 2011. (Yes, I am very sad about that but also deeply proud of what Latino Rebels accomplished for 13 years.)

• The podcast, which featured 21 episodes for Season 1 in 2024, will be put on pause for now. There is not enough funding to continue it, but we are doing all we can to get a Season 2 funded. I stay hopeful.

I shared an initial Phase 2 vision for The Latino Newsletter last November, and while it all sounds good, it is all about execution. I will be as committed as I can be to make it happen, but after job searching for 18 months, I start a new job next week.

YAY!

It will be in the nonprofit space and it will bring me back to Washington, D.C., a city that cemented my career as a journalist 11 years ago.

I will still have time to keep working on The Latino Newsletter (let’s go, off-hours editorial work!) and I am already talking with some people to help me out.

We will not give up. In 2024, The Latino Newsletter generated over $85,000 in revenue. With no marketing budget. With no paid ads to get people to subscribe. It was all organic and relationship-building.

We also have several opportunities that will make 2025 an even better year. We just need to close them. And for those who know me and what I have accomplished in the past, I like my chances.

The work is the work, and people like the work.

I can’t think of any other daily, nonprofit Latino-centric newsletter producing premium journalism, commentary, and audio that is accessible to anyone with no paywalls.

The void is real, and The Latino Newsletter has filled some of it. Now we need to complete the task.

Ideally, this is where we want to be with The Latino Newsletter in 2025:

1. Become a $200k-$500k/year nonprofit organization. (I still dream of getting to $1.5 million across three years.)

2. Have a newsroom that consists of a part-time Publisher (me), full-time Executive Editor, full-time Senior Producer, full-time Development Director, full-time Revenue Growth Director and full-time Operations Director. With that team in place and with the right funding, we can run The Latino Newsletter for at least the next two or three years. After that, who knows where we wind up, but I know we will be a sustainable organization. Of course, I don’t think that can all happen at once, but the foundation is being set.

3. Create several revenue streams so that we are not relying on traditional nonprofit models. The most direct way to make is to get to 300 donors in 2025 who would support us with an average gift of $300. That would be huge, and we have started to think of how best to do that. There are also other ways to make this happen, including sponsorships, licensing agreements and live events. There is no magic way to achieve this. Just hard work and belief.

That’s where we want to go and I am still extremely positive about it.

Peace,

Julio

What We’re Reading

Huddled Masses: Congratulations to Adrian Carrasquillo on the launch of his new “Huddled Masses” newsletter for The Bulwark. The focus of the newsletter will be deep reporting about immigration policy under a second Trump administration.

Puerto Rico Arson Story in NBC News: Our friends at NBC Latino published their report about the viral arson story out of Puerto Rico. Earlier this week, Carlos Berríos Polanco filed an excellent piece for us.

Gallego to Vote Yes on GOP Bill: As reported in POLITICO, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the first Latino senator in Arizona history, said he would vote yes on the Republican-backed Laken Riley Act immigration bill.

About the Author

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

Editor’s Note: I made a mistake and incorrectly identified Rep. Jimmy Gomez as Rep. Jimmy Garcia in Tuesday’s newsletter post. I have since corrected it.

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!