I'm finishing the editing work on a book project this week and a planned interview didn't happen, so I'm sharing an episode from November 2021 that some of you may not have heard.

We’re joined by April Alonso. April is the co-founder of the award-winning Cicero Independiente, a bilingual news website and publication based in Cicero, Illinois, along with Irene Romulo and Ankur Singh.

The Independiente has won a number of non-profit journalism award. At the time of this interview, it had just won two awards from the Institute for Non-Profit News for the 11-part series – Unrest in Cicero – How One Day Shook a Town – coverage of racial violence and unrest in their city of 80,000.

April talked about her career as a photographer and her role with this organization, explained what happened in the city and how her organization covered it, and discussed how the Independiente functions with workers that are part-time and volunteers from local schools and the community.

To learn more about The Independiente, read this article from The Poynter Institute.