Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative
We are a partnership of local news organizations covering — with a solutions-based lens— topics of importance to southern New Mexicans.
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.
Sun-News: LCPS middle school embraces DIY air filtration project
In Southern AZ, an entire K-8 school tackles dust, COVID-19 with DIY air purifiers
Students at Red Rock Elementary north of Tucson, Arizona, cut out cardboard pieces that will be used to make do-it-yourself air cleaners as part of a schoolwide Corsi-Rosenthal Box building event on Feb. 2, 2023 at the school. (Photo: Diana Alba-Soular)
KRWG: Las Cruces middle schoolers take action to improve classroom air quality
KRWG: Las Cruces to boost crisis intervention response
Deadline looms for verifying internet speeds across Southern NM
PHOTO: A poster advertising satellite-based internet service is seen Dec. 9, 2022 in the farming community of La Mesa, 17 miles south of Las Cruces on N.M. Hwy. 28. New Mexicans face a Friday, Jan. 13 deadline to verify their internet speeds on a federal broadband map – a step that will be key to getting funding for faster internet in the future. (By Diana Alba Soular/ Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative)
Why is your internet so slow? Pandemic aid may help to speed up connections across Southern NM
A communications tower, seen in early December in the southern Doña Ana County community of San Miguel, is one way southern New Mexicans access the internet.
‘Tripledemic’ strains Southern NM hospitals
Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is seen in mid-December 2022.
Deming wins grant to serve unhoused residents
Wireless hot spots: A pandemic fix yielding lackluster results for rural students
KRWG episode shines light on food insecurity amid ongoing pandemic & inflation
Las Cruces Sun-News examines key industries & jobs, as pandemic nears end of third year
Promotoras in Luna County
The power of promotoras: How community health workers helped residents cope with COVID-19
Inez Herrera, left, and Alma Renteria, both Doña Ana County promotoras, practice a blanket-making technique taught at one of a number of classes offered to residents at community centers in the outlying areas. Promotoras, or community health workers, have helped residents in rural areas navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath.
KRWG reports on shifting news media landscape in Southern New Mexico
COVID’s lasting impact, as seen by a funeral home attendant
State urges flu, COVID-19 immunizations for children
SNMJC hosts virtual, bilingual townhall discussion on COVID-19
KRWG explores homelessness among veterans
Fall and winter viruses active in lower Rio Grande region
KTAL Community Radio delves into GO bond issues, including affordable housing
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.
