This month, America turned 250. The LA Local turned six months old. Different scales, same question underneath: Who gets to tell the story of a place, who belongs, and who's been left out? Our team invites you into that conversation via our Decisions That Defined Us project (see more below).

If you’ve been pulled into World Cup fever, I hope you’ve enjoyed our coverage. Ahead of the Mexico–South Korea match in the early rounds (and before many of our hearts were broken as South Korea and Mexico exited the tournament), our reporter Hanna Kang found Koreatown fans who couldn't bring themselves to root against Mexico.  Many Angelenos felt the same about South Korea, some tracing it back to the 2018 World Cup, when South Korea's win helped Mexico advance to the next round. A year after immigration enforcement tore through communities, that's the story we chose to tell: two immigrant communities, genuinely happy for each other.

A week later, the Lineage warehouse fire filled the Eastside with toxic smoke. While local media initially covered the fire, it was Boyle Heights Beat that was still on the ground weeks later when residents were still reporting headaches, burning eyes, the smell of rotting meat, and started taking water and air testing into their own hands because they stopped waiting on agencies to do it. The community trust we’ve built is why we were the only newsroom invited into private meetings with Mayor Bass and Councilmember Jurado last Friday and with Lineage's owners and community leaders on Monday. And it's why, this week, our team was back out again, tabling in the neighborhood, handing out air purifiers, and asking residents directly what they still need. And yesterday, meeting privately with Mayor Bass at her official residence to ask her questions and share what we are hearing from local residents affected by the fire.

Recently, I attended an event where a longtime community organizer said something that has stayed with me. “I love Boyle Heights Beat. I feel like you write to us, not to other people about us.” 

To me, that’s the highest compliment a nonprofit newsroom can receive.

Six months ago, we grew from just covering Boyle Heights and the Eastside to Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake, Inglewood, South LA, and, as of this spring, Long Beach, with 36 staff, nine interns, and 150 LA Documenters shaping stories and driving accountability across LA County. We're building something different at a time when exclusion and division often dominate the headlines—more engaged residents and a stronger civic fabric woven through trust, belonging, and local connection. Every story shared, every tip sent, every community meeting attended, and every reader who chooses to support this work helps strengthen the place we all call home.

This newsletter is your inside look at this work: the milestones, the coverage, the events, and the people making it happen. 

I invite you to look back on our first six months through the video below and celebrate what we’ve accomplished together, and, even more importantly, what we’re building for the future.

Proudly,

Six months in. Built with community.

And we’re just getting started.

The Latest at The LA Local

Decisions That Defined Us: 250 Years of Belonging and Exclusion in America

Belonging is the heartbeat of democracy. Without a sense of inclusion in America's story, citizenship is hollow. Our project, “Decisions That Defined Us: 250 Years of Belonging and Exclusion in America” uses landmark California court cases as living scripts to explore who has been included in, and excluded from, the promise of America and how communities today can write the next chapter of that story. 

Read our latest stories in this project about how Japanese Americans resisted internment and fought for their property rights. We'll be sharing new stories every week in July as we continue exploring how history shapes life in our neighborhoods today.

Student Journalists Center Local Gems & Heroes

Our 2026 Youth Journalism graduates have been reporting on their communities since January, and now they’re ready to show off their hard work. These stories reflect hours of care and trust building The LA Local prides itself in cultivating. The future of storytelling in Los Angeles is in great hands! Stay tuned for more from our student journalists. 

Welcome Our New Teammates

At The LA Local, investing in the next generation of journalism is not just a promise, it’s reality. Recently, we welcomed nine summer interns attending colleges across California, including Occidental College, UC Berkeley, Cal State Long Beach, and Loyola Marymount University. Each of them are bringing a passion for community-centered work to this experience and are already hitting the ground running—being the faces of our latest news on social media, getting to know community members, and contributing fantastic reporting. Please say hi to our hardworking interns!

In Case You Missed It

Thank You For Making LA’s First Local News Day a Hit!

Reclaiming the Narrative: Independent Journalism as Civic Poder

“What are you doing to protect democracy?” asked reporting legend Jorge Ramos during a recent panel we hosted at Hispanics in Philanthropy’s annual conference in early June. For many of us at The LA Local and across the country, we’ve long admired his decades of work that often interrogated breaking news and helped amplify Latino stories in legacy media. 

Moderated by The LA Local CEO, Michele Siqueiros, this panel, Reclaiming the Narrative: Independent Journalism as Civic Poder, featured changemakers who are answering that question by leading the growing wave of independent, local media: LA Local Board Chair Monica Lozano (formerly Publisher & CEO of La Opinión), Marguerite Casey Foundation President & CEO Carmen Rojas, Independent Journalist Jorge Ramos (formerly a news anchor on Univision), and L.A. Taco Journalist Memo Torres. They, like us, believe that investing in and supporting people-centered local news will overcome the distrust, disconnect, and misrepresentation pervading today’s traditional media landscape. We’re grateful for the over 200 people who joined us for this discussion.

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Shape Our Next Six Months of Building With Community

The LA Local is here to build with communities, celebrate what’s working, and hold power accountable when it’s not. This kind of journalism takes resources, patience, and partnership. Help power this work by becoming a founding member today with a gift of any size.