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.
Sunland Park bridging digital divide with new hire
Wireless hot spots: A pandemic fix yielding lackluster results for rural students
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.
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.
