How do you reach diverse audiences with accurate, fact-based information? For Maritza Felix, it started with baking soda.
“During the pandemic, my mom was on the Mexican side of the border, and I was on the Arizona side,” says the Mexican-American journalist. “Every day she would send me prayers. She would send coronavirus remedies. She would say, ‘Drink hot water with baking soda and lemon! Put Vicks on your feet, Mija!’”
Felix, who is based in Arizona, knew she had to begin getting better, more accurate information to her mother, whose preferred means of communication is WhatsApp. So she slowly began adding friends and family to a group where she would share verified information about the pandemic.
Today, the WhatsApp group has expanded into an award-winning nonprofit media organization called Conecta Arizona. Through WhatsApp, podcasts and other forms of social media, Felix and her team are bringing essential information directly to Spanish-speaking populations along the U.S. Mexico border.
As Latino communities near one-fifth of the U.S. population, their insights and access to information are key to lasting solutions to challenges that impact everyone.
When it comes to the core work of the Walton Family Foundation, soon-to-be-released research has found that Hispanic adults feel more strongly than the overall population on practicing water conservation (69% compared to 65% in the overall population) and choosing a school that works best for their students (88% compared to 80%).
The research also found that Latino communities believe a strong sense of community pride and belonging is an important factor in helping communities thrive.
Through outlets like Conecta America, the foundation is learning how Latino populations access trusted organizations that produce relevant news, because a more informed audience is one ready to mobilize and solve big challenges.
Once a week, Felix’s La Hora del Cafecito connects audiences via WhatsApp for a live conversation with a guest expert on topics ranging from social problems to sports.
Felix is also working to create more community journalists who can report directly on behalf of their community through Plumas Invitadas. The mentorship program has so far paired 40 community members with a journalism coach to work on stories while providing the resources needed to produce them.
“Everything we do starts with listening,” says Felix. “We are training community members to reclaim the narrative of life on the border and be the ones to tell their own stories.”
In addition to working with hyper-local journalism outlets like Conecta Arizona, the foundation is also partnering with global names like The Associated Press to expand their reach to Spanish-speaking audiences on topics like climate change.
“We cover climate change around the world, including the intersection of water and its impact on Latino communities,” says Peter Prengaman, global climate and environmental news director for the Associated Press.
“It sounds very basic, but one of the biggest changes we have been able to make [with foundation support] is to hire a journalist to write stories directly in Spanish. We also translate stories into Spanish, but having this work created in native Spanish is just different, and it helps pull in readers.”
Prengaman says the AP is improving access to information for Latino populations in other ways, like creating a live blog around major events which attracted more than 100,000 new readers.
“AP is pretty well known around the world, but I am always surprised when I meet people who just don’t know us,” he says. “If we can reach more people [in their native language] they can learn about who we are, and they can turn their neighbors on to these resources.” These include AP’s free app, Spanish-speaking social media spaces and more.
AP is also targeting Spanish-speaking journalists from major Latin American news outlets through targeted training on water and climate issues.
Recently, they convened 16 journalists to workshop climate stories. “The idea is that those reporters can go back to their newsrooms, some of the biggest in Latin America, and do stories in their language that broadens the overall story of climate,” says Prengaman.
Back in Arizona, Felix says the enthusiasm for Conecta Arizona – an outlet that truly represents her community – is palpable.
“Yesterday after a training class, we had a student ask for a press badge! We have 1,000 hours of WhatsApp conversations, and people are still asking me when the next season comes out so they can invite their mothers and daughters.”
Ultimately, Martiza sees this work as a way to amplify and celebrate her home and culture.
“We need to start doing things differently. This is a community of joy. We are reclaiming and reframing not just how everybody sees us in the U.S., but everywhere else.”
