We Have a Board and a Funder

Happy Friday, everyone.

It has been 25 days since I posted a tweet about an idea I had:

The response so far has been uplifting and extremely positive, so I asked, “Why not?” The state of Latinos in journalism has been deflating. I saw too many friends and journalists I admire lose their jobs, especially in the months before another critical election season.

While I am still searching for my next full-time job (it’s been 10 months now), I kept thinking about the last time I was underemployed: I founded Latino Rebels in 2011. I had no idea back then that LR would lead me to an incredible journey that gave me a second career as a journalist, columnist, and media leader. LR and all who supported it have shaped me in so many ways. My last 13 professional years have been so rewarding. I want to keep that feeling going.

Enter The Latino Newsletter.

Why not?

Considering the URL was available (a sign), I wanted to go back to my entrepreneurial roots while I kept job searching. Most jobs I apply for seek candidates with self-starter skills and entrepreneurial experience. Why not start a new nonprofit journalism outlet from scratch? Many of you said it could become the daily community newsroom we all want. Once I saw the organic and real response to The Latino Newsletter, I was convinced that the void was very real.

As promised in my welcome email, I will update you regularly and be transparent with our plans. We are still in a “pre-launch” phase and will officially begin more regular work on July 15.

To achieve that goal, a lot has to happen.

Phase 1 will focus more on political coverage for the United States and Puerto Rico election cycles. The hope is that Phase 1 will be the proof of concept to secure more significant funding. The business model is still being drafted, but what I don’t want to do is follow an exclusive subscription model. I think that model has already peaked, and publishers must look at multiple revenue streams across multiple formats.

We can do better by exploring ways to generate revenue and fill the daily void of news, commentary, politics, and culture for the U.S. Latino community. That is the vision. Once the business plan is finalized and approved, we will make it publicly available on this site. This will always be your newsroom.

So, where are we at today? Here is the update:

381 Subscribers: We have been getting subscribers every day since May 28. Without this incredible support, The Latino Newsletter is just a tweet on my feed.

We Have a Board: I am thrilled to report that we have our first three Board members. There will be a public announcement about the Board once it signs off on the bylaws and all the organizational work required to set up a journalism nonprofit outlet correctly. The three people who said yes strongly believe in what The Latino Newsletter can become. I cannot wait to share their names with all of you, but that won’t happen until we are ready to go, which I expect to be right before the July 15 Phase 1 launch.

We Have Our First Funder: This week, our first funder contacted me to say it will invest in some of The Latino Newsletter’s startup costs for Phase 1. I am still in a state of elation. We will also go public with this funder news around the time of the Phase 1 July 15 launch.

We Are Social: Our Twitter profile @latnewsletter eclipsed 200 followers this week, and it’s been a blast to see it grow so quickly. We just started a Facebook page Thursday and got 135 followers so far. Our Instagram has 61 followers and our Threads is at 53. People are noticing. We just joined TikTok this week, and today, we began creating a new LinkedIn page. Next week, we plan to create a YouTube channel. Overall, we are engaging with our new community and still testing how best to share our stories across all our networks.

We Are in the News: Kudos to CBS News and GBH for featuring The Latino Newsletter in their stories.

Thank you again for being here at the very beginning of this journey.

Have a great weekend.

Julio