Letter from the Editor: A vision for the future, with some urgency

The start of a new year is a special time for me; a time for renewal and reflection that I tend to take very seriously. Professionally, this was a big year for me and for the Tribune as a whole, a year that’s left me re-energized and hopeful for the future. Which is why I wanted to address you, our lovely readers. 

This was the year we brought in some extremely talented, driven and passionate interns, which was a big change for us. I was nervous to lead a new group of people, and to more than double our staff. Honestly, I’d gotten used to having such a small team (longtime readers will note our staff box on page three was shrinking by the week), but it wasn’t sustainable. The three of us on the editorial staff were killing ourselves each week to get the paper out, and were left too exhausted to imagine doing more each week. 

I was very hesitant about hiring interns in the past, not because they weren’t deserving, and we clearly had the need, but I knew we didn’t have the budget for it and I loathe asking people to work for free. When we received an influx of people interested in interning with our paper, I made it clear we had nothing monetary to offer them, and they all insisted for their own reasons that they wanted to be a part of the team anyway. 

So I guess this year my goal and vision for the Tribune is clear: I’d love to start paying these hard-working and very deserving people I’ve been working alongside these past few months. Since they joined up, I have seen these journalists do amazing things, and I’m sure you’ve noticed as well. 

Angela Osorio, along with speaking to a family who was facing imminent deportation and Long Beach teachers fighting against layoffs, has spent the last few months interviewing grassroots environmental organizations. Because of her hard work, we’ve been able to launch our first-ever (in my time, at least) news series “Broken Promises,” documenting West Long Beach’s fight to preserve its natural habitats Pacific Place and Los Cerritos Wetlands.

Jorge Hernandez has been there for some of those interviews, documenting the state of these habitats so people can see the reality and the need for investment. He’s also covered a few beloved Christmas traditions and has been writing up stories on LA28 activity. 

Justin Enriquez has been consistent in his efforts to get information from the City of Long Beach for a story he’s been chasing for months. The story isn’t out yet, but when it comes out it will be the result of dozens of phone calls and emails — and it will be worth it to get this information out to you. Samuel Chacko has worked on community stories like Long Beach teen Alessandro Apuzzo walking out of Miller’s Hospital following months of rehab, the journey of Long Beach Rescue Mission’s CEO, and first-time parents who welcomed their baby to the world just days before Christmas. 

All this to say, our paper has had new life breathed into it. In the months before our interns joined, I was personally feeling absolutely burnt out, after three years at the Tribune and working on its smallest staff ever. These last few months have reminded me why I love this job, how lucky we are to be doing what we love, and what a privilege it is for people to entrust us with their stories. I’m not a particularly sentimental person, though I do get sentimental about the work we do, so I will speak to you frankly as I would want to be spoken to. 

Our paper is struggling. It is over 100 years old, one of the last remaining physical newspapers in the city (Signal Hill’s only newspaper), and even though we work extremely hard, deeply consider what kind of stories to spend time telling, make sure we give a voice to communities not often featured in other community newspapers, do not and never have had a paywall on our site, and have the cheapest subscription in town, we often find that people simply don’t know about us. We hear it all the time, and it doesn’t really bother me, but if I’m being honest, I think we do an invaluable job for many people who may think no one is providing news for them, on their level. 

Our new staff members have helped us so much over the past few months, helped us look to the future and think bigger, consider more series and ways to reach the community. But what would help us most to grow is you. 

I don’t usually write things like this, waxing poetic about the work we do in order to ask for money. In fact, I haven’t written anything like this the entire time I’ve been managing editor. Maybe that’s a mistake, maybe people would help more if they knew we needed it. That’s what I’m telling myself at least. We could really use your help in order to keep the people on board who have been working extremely hard and extremely for free and maybe one day we’ll have a larger permanent staff again. 

So if you have a few dollars to spare, and you’ve ever been helped by one of our resource guides or learned about a group doing something really cool through our features, please consider donating. If you really love our paper, a $70 subscription goes a long way and puts a well-thought out and beautifully designed paper on your doorstep every Friday morning. If you can’t donate, which is understandable given the state of the world right now, please give us a shoutout on your socials and tell your friends, family and coworkers about us. 

If you happen to run a business or organization and are reading this, our advertisement options are affordable for online, social media and print, and they are our main source of income at the moment. If you have any suggestions on how we can better serve your community, no matter how small, please let us know and we’ll do our best to make it happen. We exist to help you. 

If you’re still reading, thank you for indulging me, and I hope our paths cross and I get to learn your story some day, and thank you for supporting the Tribune in any way. Here’s to another year!