We are a partnership of local news organizations covering — with a solutions-based lens— topics of importance to southern New Mexicans.
Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative
Top Stories
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DOGE-led firings stir unease across Southern New Mexico
Across Southern New Mexico and the country individuals were terminated from their federal jobs in recent weeks by the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency as part of a massive, controversial effort to save money.
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Food pantry takes shape in Chaparral to fight hunger
Officials broke ground Oct. 11 on the pantry at 190 County Line Drive near the Betty McKnight Community Center. The pantry will focus on feeding families from both the Doña Ana County and Otero County sides of Chaparral, located close to the Texas state line. It will be the community’s first permanent pantry.
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Inside New Mexico’s first diversion program for people who aren’t competent to stand trial
James Ketcherside approached the bushes behind the Las Cruces fire station where the woman had been spending nights, bracing for resistance but determined to try.
The Rebuild
How Southern NM Recovers from the Pandemic
In 2022, the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative launched a project to cover stories related to the pandemic and recovery — everything from health and mental health impacts to high-speed internet access.
We’re looking at these issues from a solutions-based reporting model, in which responses to social challenges, like the pandemic, are critically examined. We seek to better connect and engage with communities, especially those under-served in local news, across the southern half of the state. Here are the latest stories.
What is Solutions-Based Journalism?
The concept of solutions-based journalism starts with an understanding that, historically, journalists have devoted too much attention to social problems — but without comparable attention to the possible solutions to those problems. This can lead to a false sense of hopelessness — a belief that progress in addressing society’s most pressing challenges just isn’t possible. In an attempt to counter that long-practiced (and misguided) trend, journalists across the world are embracing a refreshed approach — solutions-based journalism — to critically examine solutions that are being applied, whether in their own communities or elsewhere.
Not every news story produced by the Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative is a solutions story, but many of them are! And we believe this dynamic approach will help to change the conversation around local news; improve equity, diversity and sustainability in the practice of journalism; and strengthen ties with audiences across southern New Mexico — for the betterment of our region.
